Ever After Foods (EAF) has acquired Fishway, adding aquatic cell lines, animal-component-free media expertise and a scientific team to its industrial protein manufacturing platform.
The acquisition follows a technology collaboration between the two companies and is intended to shorten development cycles and speed commercialization, according to the companies.
"The future of protein will be determined not by who develops the next breakthrough, but by who can bring breakthrough technologies together into scalable industrial production," said Eyal Rosenthal, CEO of Ever After Foods. "Fishway is an important addition to our broader strategy of building the industrial infrastructure required for resilient, scalable and secure protein production. We are committed to selectively integrating complementary biology, media and manufacturing technologies while remaining an open manufacturing platform serving companies across the cultivated protein ecosystem."
In conjunction with the acquisition, EAF secured an additional $2 million in strategic investment to support commercialization and platform expansion.
Platform combines bioprocessing and scaffold technology
EAF operates a species-agnostic manufacturing platform that combines bioprocess engineering, its proprietary edible scaffold technology, PlantriX, and its Edible Packed-Bed production system.
The company said its initial collaboration with Fishway showed that combining aquatic biology and animal-component-free media with EAF's manufacturing platform creates a faster path from biological innovation through media development to industrial-scale production.
Pet food ingredients among initial commercial programs
The acquisition is intended to expand EAF's ability to support food, ingredient and pet food companies through an integrated development and manufacturing platform.
One of the platform's initial commercial programs will focus on cultivated functional protein ingredients for premium pet food, which the company attributed to industry demand, product value and regulatory dynamics. The platform is also intended to support development of cultivated meat, seafood and other next-generation protein applications for food and ingredient companies.
"The cultivated protein space has faced an assortment of challenges over the last few years, but the promise of quality protein production at scale has not dimmed," said Annelies Bogaerts, CEO of Fishway. "The industry is entering a new phase, moving from isolated technology development to industrial integration and commercialization. After an initial technology collaboration demonstrating the power of our complementary solutions, it was clear that the acquisition would help us drive a new era of safe, sustainable protein manufacturing. We look forward to supporting EAF's industrial platform."
The Fishway team will join Ever After Foods as part of the deal. Belgium will remain a center for the company's aquatic biology and media development work, according to EAF. Fishway's shareholders will continue to support the EAF platform. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Collaboration with Bühler
In February 2025, EAF and Bühler announced a collaboration aimed at helping food producers worldwide efficiently produce cultivated meat at mass scale. The partnership introduced a commercial-scale production system, which the companies said allowed for 10-fold lower production costs compared to existing technologies.
Ever After Foods' platform is designed to allow cultivated meat producers to reduce production costs by over 90% while maintaining high production efficiency. The company's technology enables the natural production of muscle and fat tissues for beef, chicken, duck and fish cells, ensuring an exceptional replication of conventional meat in taste and texture.
