Speaker

About the speaker: 

Haik started at Hortimare in 2018, after a career of running different small companies. He started his career as a veterinarian for all animals big and small. In 2018 he was told that the seaweed industry was ready to scale, but in 2025 an essential piece of the puzzle is still missing. He now moved from managing Hortimare’s operations towards market development, building value chains for different species. He expects that the seaweed industry needs another 5-7 years to fully mature.

Company info:

Hortimare supports seaweed initiatives worldwide, providing expertise from conceptualisation to building and scaling. We specialize in seed supply, new species domestication, breeding programs, technical support, and ecosystem services—laying the foundation for our clients' and collaborators' success. Our mission is to build a thriving seaweed industry that benefits both the environment and society. We strive for a healthy, transparent supply chain where knowledge, skills, and rewards are shared, fostering collective success.

Presentation:

In the last 6 years, Hortimare has focused on operational control, making progress on technical challenges, production efficiency, lifecycle control and seeding technique. While seaweed production capacity in Europe has continuously increased in those years, market development and demand have not. In 2024, the European seaweed hype cycle reached a low point with little sales and cultivation for traditionally farmed kelp species. In 2025, we need to focus  on market development and building sustainable value chains for different species, based on professional and focused collaborations. Haik van Exel will highlight examples of this by introducing the Dutch initiative “Seaweed Valley”, specific trends in assignments from the industry and sharing commercial strategies forward on five different continents including Europe.