Banking & Finance  June 29, 2015

Boulder startup LoveWild Fish raises $500,000 to ramp up marketing

BOULDER — Startup LoveWild Fish Co., has raised $500,000 in new funding as the company aims to ramp up marketing in its attempt to make fish a more regular part of people’s diet.

Founded by Jacqueline Claudia and Christy Brouker last August, Boulder-based LoveWild packages a line of sustainably grown frozen fish fillets that come with a premade sauce and simple cooking instructions. The company sources fish — rockfish, mahi mahi, red trout and, soon, catfish — from various states around the country. Once flash-frozen and shipped to Boulder, LoveWild packages the fish in Boulder and distributes from here.

“It’s idiot-proof,” Claudia said in a phone interview Monday. “You really can’t mess it up, and it doesn’t even make a mess in your kitchen.”

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Claudia said the new funding is to start getting the word out about the product line, and she said the funding round could grow to as much as $700,000.

“This is not a category that gets a lot of casual shoppers, so building awareness and getting people to the door is important,” she said.

LoveWild began selling its entrees, which each include two 6-ounce fillets for $14.99, in the Boulder and Louisville Alfalfa’s Market locations in January. But distribution will begin ramping up this summer.

Denver-based Seattle Fish Co., which distributes fresh fish to high-end restaurants and grocery stores around the West and Midwest, is on LoveWild’s advisory board now. But by August, LoveWild plans to take over some unused space at Seattle Fish’s facilities, where the company will move its packaging and distribution. LoveWild has also lined up distribution for about 1,100 stores around the country through Seattle Fish, Fortune Fish Co. and another undisclosed distributor.

Claudia said LoveWild, which is home-based at the moment, will also soon open an office and add a director of sales and marketing. So far, Claudia and Brouker are the only employees, along with various contractors, but Claudia said the company would also likely make some hires as it moves production to Denver.

Claudia said the company is approaching about $3,000 in sales at the two Boulder County locations so far, but is projecting as much as $17 million in annual revenue by the end of 2018.

Claudia, who did corporate strategy for 20 years, came up with the idea for LoveWild while working on a project that connected Lockheed Martin missile-guidance technology with an open-ocean fish farmer in Hawaii to create a tracking device for the farmer’s fish crates. Brouker, meanwhile, is a former natural-foods writer and veteran of the startup scene, having most recently worked for Boulder-based InspiringApps.

Together, they’ve bootstrapped the company to this point with about $22,000. They’re hoping the new funds will help get their idea to the masses.

“Everyone knows they’re supposed to eat fish, but they don’t do it because they think it’s hard,” Claudia said.

BOULDER — Startup LoveWild Fish Co., has raised $500,000 in new funding as the company aims to ramp up marketing in its attempt to make fish a more regular part of people’s diet.

Founded by Jacqueline Claudia and Christy Brouker last August, Boulder-based LoveWild packages a line of sustainably grown frozen fish fillets that come with a premade sauce and simple cooking instructions. The company sources fish — rockfish, mahi mahi, red trout and, soon, catfish — from various states around the country. Once flash-frozen and shipped to Boulder, LoveWild packages the fish in Boulder and distributes from here.

“It’s idiot-proof,” Claudia…

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