# Royal Caridea

Transform the shrimp production industry while addressing unmet market needs

## Elevator pitch
Royal Caridea is a high-tech shrimp farming company focused on bringing to commercialization its transformative GEN 2 Shrimp Farming Technology (GEN-2)

- Canonical URL: https://wefunder.com/royalcaridea
- Entity ID: wefunder:company:120762
- Last updated: 2026-06-22T05:03:37Z
- Generated at: 2026-06-22T15:49:56Z

## Quick facts
- Already raised $935,000 from Series A Preferred Offering
- Patented in USA and Australia; Pending in EU. GEN-2 is ready for commercialization.
- GEN 2 Shrimp Farming is a Super Intensive Raceway Shrimp Farming Technology (SIRSFT)
- Provide high-quality live shrimp 365 days a year anywhere in the world
- Shrimp are grown disease free, with consistent harvest volumes, and highly-reduced crop losses
- Raised funds through Harvest Returns, a dedicated Agricultural-focused crowdfunding platform
- Revenues are projected to increase rapidly as production scales up (not guaranteed)
- Current predictions are that global shrimp production will approach 11 billion lbs. in 2022

## Active fundraises
- wefunder:fundraise:67816: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)
- wefunder:fundraise:67817: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)

## Story
Royal Caridea (RC) is a high-tech shrimp farming company focused on bringing its transformative GEN 2 Shrimp Farming Technology to commercialization. Based out of Gila Bend, Arizona, the sponsor has market-tested high-quality shrimp in conventional ponds and greenhouses, producing 12,500 lbs. of shrimp in 2021. Royal Caridea is currently raising $1.065 million (Series B Preferred) of equity capital in order to finance the build of its first patented GEN-2, 8-stacked raceway, production system. The images below show both the single "Gen-2 Raceway" along with the "Gen-2 Production Unit" (8 Gen-2 Raceways stacked on top of each other).Royal Caridea premium shrimp will compete directly with the upper end of traditional offerings while also opening untapped markets for live and fresh, never-frozen products. In two of the current shrimp markets, i.e., live, and fresh, never-frozen, RC will face limited competition from niche players which do not have the capacity to produce shrimp on a continuous, predictable basis. The company produces the highly desirable Pacific whiteleg shrimp, Penaeus vannamei.See the Raceways Up Close!RC plans to open and operate its own retail outlet strategically located on the east side of Phoenix, situated closer to its Asian population. Through its retail outlet, RC will create its first point of distribution to reach the public where it will sell both live and fresh, never frozen Shrimp. People generally like to see what they are buying prior to buying which in turn allows RC to start developing a personal relationship with the consumer.UPDATE! April 14, 2023To All, here is the latest of our shrimp growth ---- 5g growth last week and 5g more this week. Can we be on pace for a 36 - 40g Royal Caridea Shrimp????? Five to Six weeks till harvest --- 90 days --- remember when we grew shrimp in the ponds it was 120 days --- so 25% less grow time and 30 - 40% more weight. This species is amazing but only when grown in our patented and controlled environment.UPDATE! April 7, 2023 Shrimp PL12 (post larvae 12) and acclimated for ~7 days. Salinity reduced from ~30 PPT to 10 PPT. They were then stocked into an inground raceway wherein 10 PPT salinity and 10C temperature have been maintained. The shrimp are today, 54 days since being received. They are growing very quickly,, they grew an average of 5 grams this week. Anticipate they will be ready to harvest from May 5th to May 23 and will weigh 32g plus per shrimp. They are being fed four times daily and we have seen very little mortality.UPDATE! April 7, 2023 Royal Caridea LLC’s first fully functional 8-Vertical Shrimp Raceway System --- the 1st of many Stacked shrimp raceway systems designed to be placed in a building almost anywhere in the World. Creating an environmentally controlled sustainable shrimp grow-out facility!Active2Tec has signed a Letter of Commitment to purchase RC shrimp for international export (see the documents section for more details).RC's Arizona desert shrimp has been endorsed by Executive Chef and Ambassador of the Good Fish Foundation, Danielle Leoni. "I’ve always seen sustainability through the lens of food and have always been excited to share the exceptional quality and taste of Royal Caridea’s Arizona Desert Shrimp. The Arizona Desert Shrimp hit that sweet spot where quality, taste, and availability come together to offer a chef exactly what is needed to deliver an outstanding culinary experience." (see the documents section for more details)This is our latest update as we begin development on the first 8-Raceway GEN 2 Shrimp Farming System.POSTED! Webinar September 27, 2022 Sales Growth: RC expects to see its sales grow from over $140,000 in 2021 to over $18 million in 2026 with EBITDA surging to $8.7 million in 2026, based on meeting RC's proforma estimates. This will put RC on the path to further growth – while bringing to market a series of high-quality products and meeting a vast unmet need of demanding and savvy consumers, these projections are forward-looking and not guaranteed.Sustainable Marine Protein Production: Shrimp trawling is one of the most destructive fisheries; for every pound of shrimp that is caught, it is estimated that up to twenty pounds of finfish or marine invertebrates are killed as bycatch. Additionally, concerns remain about shrimp farming’s environmental sustainability including the destruction of mangroves; the impact of pollution; the incidence of disease; and the depletion of wild shrimp. Social issues, such as the use of slavery in parts of the supply chain, have not been eliminated. RC’s enclosed recirculating aquaculture system solves these problems by producing shrimp with minimum land and water use and no use of antibiotics.Royal Caridea fits the Monterey Bay Aquarian requirements to receive a classification of Best Choices/Green. Companies with this selection are summarized as "well managed and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways". The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch® program evaluates the ecological sustainability of wild-caught and farmed seafood commonly found in the North American marketplace. To view the full document, please view the "Monterey Bay Evaluation'' document. (see the documents section for more details). Compared to imported shrimp, the sponsor's product will have the following:Great taste, texture, and appearanceYear-round availabilityHealthy, human pathogen-freeStrong product marginsAbility to serve live and fresh, never-frozen marketsConsistent, predictable shrimp production in 16 and 26-gram sizesLocal production gives a significant freshness advantage over imported shrimpStrong IP: RC has patents granted in Australia and the USA and pending patents in numerous other countries, including the European Union, for the "Multi-Phasic Super Intensive Shrimp Production System" (Gen 2).Royal Caridea hopes to be acquired by a large seafood company, private equity firm, or a large food manufacturer/distributor. They have had discussions with a few companies, but they need to see the 8-Raceway system successful. RC expects to see an exit for early investors in the next 4 to 5 years.  These projections cannot be guaranteed. Royal Caridea has secured a well-situated site in Gila Bend, Arizona. The farm site is located a significant distance from wild or domestic shrimp. The aquifer water is low saline (RC adds salt as may be required) and free of microbial pathogens. The location is close to numerous markets in the local area, and the large California markets are within a reasonable transport distance. The PHX airport is nearby, which will support shipping for anticipated substantial online sales.Over 1.65 billion pounds of shrimp were imported to the USA in 2020, of which almost all were previously frozen. In the same year, approximately 280 million pounds of shrimp were landed in the USA (over 60% from the Gulf of Mexico) which implies a total available product of 1.9 billion pounds, with 80-90% coming from imports. Shrimp is the most consumed seafood in the USA, with a consumption of more than 5 pounds per person each year. However, most American consumers have little to no access to fresh, never frozen, or live shrimp. The same is true in Europe.America’s import needs are met largely by farms in Southeast Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, India, Vietnam) and Latin America, primarily Ecuador. All of these countries have high chances of supply chain disruption. Since early 2021, international freight costs from Asia to North America for 20-foot and 40-foot containers have increased by as much as 500% -700% due to persistent shortages of frozen food containers. Aside from supply disruption, contamination of imported products is of grave concern. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected a five-year high of 72 shipments of antibiotic-contaminated shrimp in 2021, over twice as many shipments as were refused in 2020.Overall, the trend of shrimp farming is trending towards more efficient, sustainable, and cleaner production, but significant challenges remain in the small-scale portion of the sector, wherein batches are consolidated, thereby voiding trace-back resulting in health concerns for the American and EU consumers. Concerns remain about shrimp farming’s environmental sustainability including the destruction of mangroves; the impact of pollution; the incidence of disease; and the depletion of wild shrimp. Social issues, such as the use of slavery in parts of the supply chain, have not been eliminated. Cleaner and more efficient farming requires capital investments and technical training, which is not universally accessible.Demand for shrimp continues to rise fueled by a growing population of consumers, seeking high-quality sustainable, traceable protein. Year-over-year, global shrimp production grew at a rate of 4% over the 10 years ending 2020. Consumers “accept” frozen shrimp but are constantly in search of locally grown fresh produce. Wild fisheries cannot meet US domestic demand for shrimp to say nothing of the demand for fresh, never frozen, or live shrimp in America or Europe. There is a clear opportunity for a market entrant that can produce locally grown, high-quality shrimp in the quantity that is available to the market daily and is sustainably grown using responsible methods. Royal Caridea was formed to take advantage of this opportunity. Now that you've had the time to see why the shrimp industry needs our technology, not only to produce live shrimp all year long anywhere in the world but also to minimize disease, and increase sustainability and safety in the overall industry. We provide better tasting healthy-eating shrimp to the consumer. Royal Caridea's GEN 2 Shrimp Farming System, a patented technology, is commercially ready to disrupt the global market. Are you ready to change the world? We can do it with your help, invest the minimum or more, and tell your friends and family that they can get in on something exciting and a market game-changer. 

## FAQ
1. **I see under your heading "Exit Strategy" you state that "RC expects to see an exit for early investors in the next 4 to 5 years. These projections cannot be guaranteed." Could you point me to the projected returns for an investor? I cannot seem to find them. I understand that ...**
   - HI A. House, The projections are now available on our Wefunder page under details. Additionally, you can view some of our projections on the overview page -- see slides Financial Projections.
2. **I am interested, but will need to see your Form C filing before I make a decision. Can you tell me when that filing is expected to be made?**
   - Scott, our Form C has just been filed! Do you have any other questions? Thanks for your interest.
3. **Hello, Do you offer common or preferred shares?**
   - HI Alghamdi, Royal Caridea is offering Preferred Series B Units of Interest in this offering
4. **1. All that water release must be expensive. How much of your annual loss of 860k is due to water cost/water rights? ... 2. Please go into further detail about the raceways you want to install... what are they supposed to do or allow you to provide? ... 3. Can you link me the ...**
   - 1. Royal Caridea uses aquifer water and is pumped from wells. We have water wells located on the farm and own water rights beneath the land. The water access to the aquifer is grandfathered in and the cost to us is the cost of pumping. We have a water sharing arrangement with neighbors in which water we dispose of is transferred to neighboring farms for irrigation purposes. Once we harvest our pond shrimp, we release the water to a holding pond and local growers of various crops such as cotto...
5. **Hi, very compelling idea! What is your targeted retail price per pound for your shrimp? How is this compared to average imported shrimp? Thank you!**
   - The US commodity frozen shrimp market is supplied mostly by imported products from Southeast Asia and Central America. This frozen shrimp market is not the focus market of Royal Caridea. Royal has chosen to enter the USA Market focusing on Live and Fresh Never Frozen shrimp. Royal shrimp addresses the unmet market demand for Live and Fresh Never Frozen shrimp and providing it year-round at the size, taste, and quantity customer’s demand. This market is estimated to be greater than 100M lbs./Y...

## Team
- Maurice Kemp (Managing Member / President and Director of Develo)
- Michael Cunha (Chief Financial Officer)
- Anthony Brand (V. P. Engineering)
- Philip Peck (V. P. Marketing and Sales)
- Craig Collins (Plant Production Operations Manager)
- Tony Hudson (Digital Media Director, Sales and Marketing)

## Recent posts
- THE SHRIMP ARE GROWING FAST! (2023-04-14T15:38:06Z)
- CakeBoxx Expands Modular, Sustainable Platform Solutions into New Markets with Ground-Breaking Regenerative Aquaculture Platforms that Deliver Sustainable, Optimized Supply Chains (2023-02-01T01:49:17Z)
- New GEN 2 Development Update (2023-01-16T01:08:53Z)
- New Royal Caridea Video! (2023-01-11T02:41:41Z)
- SOON TO SUBMIT FORM C TO SEC (2022-10-26T14:03:46Z)
- INVESTOR WEBINAR! Join us in seeing how you can change how shrimp are grown worldwide (2022-09-20T17:18:07Z)
- Welcome to our Lead Investor, Jamie Stein! (2022-08-30T22:24:32Z)

## Q&A
- Q: Any could happen, but right now it doesn’t look like you will hit your funding target. If you don’t will you be able to build the raceway 2. Also has inflation caused the price of imported shrimp to go up? I think some people would be ok with paying a little more to make sure their food was free of diseases, and plastics and other chemicals. You could build a good brand name. Also you are basically a farm. And you are helping to secure the food supply of America . Any money or help from the government?
- Q: Hi, very compelling idea! What is your targeted retail price per pound for your shrimp? How is this compared to average imported shrimp? Thank you!
  - A: The US commodity frozen shrimp market is supplied mostly by imported products from Southeast Asia and Central America. This frozen shrimp market is not the focus market of Royal Caridea. Royal has chosen to enter the USA Market focusing on Live and Fresh Never Frozen shrimp. Royal shrimp addresses the unmet market demand for Live and Fresh Never Frozen shrimp and providing it year-round at the size, taste, and quantity customer’s demand. This market is estimated to be greater than 100M lbs./Yr. Royal pricing, as delineated below, is well within current market pricing. When grocery outlets can purchase Live shrimp such as 99 Ranch, the wholesale pricing is consistently between $16.00 - $18.00 with retail pricing ranging from $24.99 to $26.99/Lb. with some outlets selling Live shrimp at up to $33.00/lb. As for Fresh Never Frozen product, restaurants regularly pay $11.00 to $16.00/lb. Since this is seasonal most restaurants can only make seasonal menus for this product. Fresh Live – Today’s 16g to 26g Live shrimp account for a small fraction of the USA market. It is an underserved market especially in locations such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, and Phoenix, i.e., cities with large Asian populations. This product will attract local consumers. It will also attract seafood restaurateurs and chefs and several specialty regional seafood markets. Fresh Live shrimp will command premium prices to Royal of $14 to 18/lbs. (excluding freight). Fresh Never Frozen – Large 26g, pathogen free, sustainably produced fresh never frozen shrimp. This product is in high demand from seafood consumers as well as numerous upscale restaurants, seafood markets, farmers markets, and online customers. Fresh Never Frozen shrimp will command premium prices to Royal of $10.50 to $12/lb. Royal has just started, this 2022, selling small volumes of our Fresh Never Frozen product at $14/lb.
  - A: Thanks for the question. Almost all shrimp imported into the US is frozen. Frozen shrimp is considered commodity shrimp. The pricing for commodity shrimp is generally in the retail range of $4 to $10 / lb. Royal is not pursuing the commodity market. We are addressing the unmet market need for Live and Fresh never frozen shrimp. The wholesale market for Live shrimp in the US is generally between $14 - $20/ lb. with the retail pricing ranging from $23 - $42/lb. Royal will sale its Live shrimp within the wholesale pricing range. As so Fresh never frozen shrimp in the US, wholesale prices generally range from $10 - $14/lb. with retail prices ranging from $ 12 - $22/lb. Again, Royal will offer its Fresh never frozen within the wholesale price range.
- Q: 1. All that water release must be expensive. How much of your annual loss of 860k is due to water cost/water rights? ... 2. Please go into further detail about the raceways you want to install... what are they supposed to do or allow you to provide? ... 3. Can you link me the form c for your other priced rounds? ... 4. It seems like the company is shifting from open air to indoor farming... is that due to cold nights killing shrimp? ..... 5. How do you keep birds from stealing the shrimp, pooping and peeing in the water. ... Suggestion. Why not build an enclosure around all your ponds. .... Enclosure can help with water evaporation capture, removal of birds and most diseases, and can help stabilize the ground/air temperature
  - A: 1. Royal Caridea uses aquifer water and is pumped from wells. We have water wells located on the farm and own water rights beneath the land. The water access to the aquifer is grandfathered in and the cost to us is the cost of pumping. We have a water sharing arrangement with neighbors in which water we dispose of is transferred to neighboring farms for irrigation purposes. Once we harvest our pond shrimp, we release the water to a holding pond and local growers of various crops such as cotton and alfalfa pump the holding pond water to supplement irrigation of their fields. 2. The raceways primarily are designed to support the grow-out of shrimp. But most importantly they allow for a synchronous production system, such that we can produce 13 to 17 crops per year. A standard horizontal raceway or pond-based system is operated using a batch process, i.e., a max of 23 crops per year. A 10,000sq ft pond can yield at best 2-3 crops or ~20,000 lb. of shrimp annually in the tropics. One of our raceway’s 12X60’ can yield 28,000 lbs./yr. In a 100,000 sq ft building we can grow 1.3 plus million lbs./yr. 3. Royal Caridea has not had any prior Form C rounds. Our rounds have been Reg D’s. 4. No, we are moving to our new, patented, enclosed stacked raceway technology. This technology will reduce the use of land, water usage, and contaminants and significantly reduce harm to our land, water, and environment. Please see our pdf of our Power Point Presentation under added documents. See answer to #2. Climate independent. 5. There are some cranes that try to steal shrimp but the water is too deep. WE also keep aluminum pie plates on poles near ponds. Light breezes tend to scare away shrimp. We are located in the desert where scavenger birds do not hang around because there is little to no food and moving production indoors the issues are eliminated.
- Q: Hi , a great concept for fresh shrimp in colder climates where we cannot farm shrimp ! . A quick question regarding the European patent status and maybe the option of a further UK patent on the GEN 2 production system ?
  - A: Royal estimates that we will be granted our patent by the European Patent Organization (EPO) before the end of 2023. Once Royal receives notification of grant of patent from the EPO Royal will file in the UK, as well as a number of other European countries. It is our understanding that once we file for the UK we should receive a UK patent grant within two or so months since the approval of the patent and its claims will have already been approved at the EPO. As such, Royal would expect that by end of 1st QTR of 2024 we would have our UK patent issued to Royal.
- Q: Can you explain the use of funds 22.5% Hire Marketing Director Total amount. Action and result. Climate challenges for facility and impact on staff. Supply chain and operational issues for construction. Will the corporation own the patents?
  - A: Royal Caridea does not presently have a full-time Marketing Director, we have a consultant supporting a number of functions normally overseen by a Marketing Director. It is our intent to use the funds to move that person from consultant to full-time when the time is appropriate. The $16K allocation is to meet our final commitment to him. As for climate challenges for facility and impact on staff, there will be minimal impact. Our vertical raceway system is fully enclosed and housed in a warehouse. The raceways are fully enclosed so we only have to control the environment within the enclosure. Because this area is limited the heating/air costs are minimized because we are only heating and/or cooling a small portion of the warehouse and as such evaporation is significantly reduced.. This is a major advantage over most other indoor shrimp growers who must control the entire environment of the warehouse. Aside from the grow-out enclosure the remaining portion of the warehouse will be controlled to provide an appropriate working environment. As with most businesses supply chain problems have to be managed. Our vertical raceways are built off-site so when they arrive it is a matter primarily of installation and startup. We have the personnel and equipment onsite to assist in installation and bringing the system operational. A portion of the funds will be used to finish the floor caissons that the raceways will be mounted onto and some additional floor finishing. The patents are assigned to and owned by Royal Caridea as will all additional patents that are developed by Royal Caridea personnel and any third parties Royal Caridea hires to support other patentable technologies related to our business.
- Q: Hello, can you please discuss the difference in terms between this raise and the prior recent raise through Harvest Return? Valuation looks lower this round...
  - A: Both the Harvest Return and this Wefunder offering have the same terms with the exception that for the first $240,000 investment in the Wefunder offering will be granted a 20% discount ($.80/Unit). The reason the valuations are different because 1) Wefunder assumes that the valuation for this purpose is at $.80/Unit and 2) they do not allocate for the unissued reserve of 1M Units for future new management (Reserve) that was in the valuation in the Harvest Return offering. As such for the post-Harvest Return investment the valuation was $9.8M. For the Wefunder valuation it is $8.8 (less the 1M Units in Reserve) and then the assumption for the 20% discount so net valuation for the Wefunder offering is $7.04M ($8.8M x .80). Please remember that after the offering amount of $1,065,000 is raised the new post valuation will be close to $10.8M ($9.8 + $1.065M) because Royal Caridea will bring in the Reserve Units.
- Q: More of a comment really. This company is an IDEAL candidate for the USDA Value Added Producer Grant. You need to apply. This is good money. rd.usda.gov/programs…ded-producer-grants USDA will be opening up another round of funding soon. Applications are done in the Spring.
  - A: Amy, thanks for the information. Royal Caridea has applied for a US government “grant” based on capital investments we have already made. We expect to have notification as to acceptance in early 2023. If accepted it could mean up to $850K in funds. We will look into this opportunity that you have introduced us. Again, thanks for your interest in Royal Caridea’s success.
- Q: Hello, Do you offer common or preferred shares?
  - A: HI Alghamdi, Royal Caridea is offering Preferred Series B Units of Interest in this offering
- Q: I am interested, but will need to see your Form C filing before I make a decision. Can you tell me when that filing is expected to be made?
  - A: Scott, our Form C has just been filed! Do you have any other questions? Thanks for your interest.
- Q: I see under your heading "Exit Strategy" you state that "RC expects to see an exit for early investors in the next 4 to 5 years. These projections cannot be guaranteed." Could you point me to the projected returns for an investor? I cannot seem to find them. I understand that the projections are not guaranteed.
  - A: HI A. House, The projections are now available on our Wefunder page under details. Additionally, you can view some of our projections on the overview page -- see slides Financial Projections.