Oceano Fresco, a Portuguese sustainable seafood company using regenerative aquaculture techniques to grow high-quality clams, has successfully closed a €17 million ($18.4m) funding round.

The funding -- led by Indico Capital Partners with the participation of BlueCrow, Aqua-Spark and FdCR, a fund managed by Banco Portugues de Fomento -- will support Oceano Fresco's sales operations and the expansion of its production capacity.

"For Oceano Fresco, having knowledgeable partners who share our values and vision is at least as important as raising money per se," said Bernardo Carvalho, the firm's CEO.

"With this in mind, we very gladly welcome Indico Capital Partners and Banco Portugues de Fomento to this adventure, just like we welcome Aqua-Spark's and BlueCrow's renewed support, as we continue on our path to become the world leaders in regenerative bivalve aquaculture."

The firm farms two native bivalve species, V. corrugata and R. decussatus, which begin their journey at its biomarine center in Nazare, just two hours north of Lisbon.

After initial breeding, these clams are transferred to the world's first open-sea clam farm off the coast of Lagos, in the Algarve region, where they are protected and nurtured by vertical lanterns suspended along longlines.