As an exclusive media partner, environment coastal & offshore (eco) magazine presents a new partnership spotlight series, where we look back at past Ocean Exchange finalists and share brief updates on where they are now.
Impact Food, founded in 2020 by Kelly Pan and Stephanie Claudino, is based in San Francisco, CA. The team combines their shared passion for food innovation and ocean sustainability by creating solutions for a better food system, starting with seafood. Ocean Exchange welcomed them to the stage as a finalist in 2023.
In 2025, the team launched a partnership with Just Poke, serving their plant-based tuna across 30 locations in the Seattle area. In the same year, the team also launched their Rose Lychee Protein Drink using their existing pea protein inventory.
Starting a new path forward in Japan, they completed a manufacturing pilot in Osaka and advanced towards a 2026 ecommerce commercialization with Oisix ra Daichi.
2024 Ocean Exchange finalist and $100,000 Orcelle awardee, Carbon-Bridge, was founded in 2021 by Manu Pillai and Sophia Xu. Based in New York, the team uses its highly efficient, direct-gas bioreactor to convert waste gases to energy with microbes.
The Methanol produced serves as a cleaner alternative for the maritime industry, facilitating a gradual transition to netzero emissions without the need for extensive infrastructure changes.
In addition to Ocean Exchange funding in 2024, they were awarded $719,881 from ARPA-E under the GREENWELLS program. These have raised a total of over $2.6 million.
In 2026, Co-Founder Sophia Xu was named on “Forbes 30 Under 30” list for Energy and Green Tech.
Seacork Studio was founded in 2024 by Annie Dahan and was an Ocean Exchange finalist in 2024. Seacork Studio is a biobased materials company in Vancouver, BC, transforming regeneratively harvested seaweed into acoustic panels.
Designed to store biogenic carbon and lower embodied emissions, their panels can be reprocessed or composted at the end of their life. Their panels have undergone third-party performance testing and a cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Analysis to validate technical and sustainability claims.
In 2025, Seacork Studio secured over $1 million in non-dilutive funding. This funding helped the company validate its supply chain and secure a new production facility, enabling a 10x increase in manufacturing capacity in 2026.
To learn more about Ocean Exchange, visit: www.oceanexchange.org
This spotlight appeared in environment coastal & offshore (eco) magazine’s 2026 issue II. Read in the magazine here.
