Formulate the Future
with Kelp

GreenWave’s Kelp CoLab is for CPG brands ready to lead with both performance and sustainability. Whether you’re a marketer, product lead, or founder, CoLab offers a way to accelerate development without draining budgets, strengthen your sustainability leadership, and stand out with a unique ingredient story rooted in kelp. As Cohort Members, brands gain access to tailored kelp-based ingredients and expert formulation support to develop products that perform and connect with consumers’ demand for clean solutions.

Here is a look at the diverse ecosystem of collaborates that CoLab brings together:

• CPG Brands are at the center of CoLab as Cohort Members. They align on key technical challenges and work directly with product development experts and ingredient suppliers in an iterative innovation process.

• Established Multinational Companies serve as Anchor Partners for CoLab’s innovation focus. They generate hypotheses, define success criteria, and ensure that solutions are grounded in real-world business needs, giving Cohort Members the chance to learn from industry leaders and apply those insights to their own innovation.

• Ingredient Suppliers work directly with Cohort Members to align on ingredient specifications, share insights on feasibility and scalability, and supply kelp-based ingredient solutions that meet their product needs.

Kelp CoLab gives CPG brands a way to explore the future of sustainable product innovation—without taking on the usual risks or costs of early-stage R&D. As a Cohort Member, your brand will gain access to $50K in fully funded research, development, and formulation support, all designed to align performance with sustainability. Whether you're looking to explore the potential of kelp-derived bioactives, future-proof your ingredient sourcing, or connect with others working at the cutting edge of sustainable product innovation, Kelp CoLab offers a path forward.

Here’s what you can expect as a Cohort Member:

• Competitive Advantage: Gain an edge with kelp-based formulations tailored to your product goals, building products that perform while telling a unique sustainability story.

• Expert Formulation Support: Partner with leading experts to accelerate R&D, overcome technical hurdles, and de-risk innovation.

• On-the-Ground Perspective: An immersive visit to a regenerative kelp farm in Alaska, with firsthand insight into traceable supply chains.

• Collaboration & Community: Join a peer cohort of innovative brands and forge tangible partnerships with industry leaders and disruptors.

Kelp is one of the fastest-growing and most sustainable crops on earth. It’s also a versatile, multifunctional ingredient with applications across personal care, food, and other consumer product categories.

Kelp is multifunctional, offering benefits across product categories:

• Deep hydration and skin-barrier support in beauty and personal care applications

• Anti-inflammatory properties to help calm skin and scalp

• Natural conditioning, texture enhancement, and viscosity support for stable, high-performing formulas

• Umami flavor and salt reduction solutions for food and beverage innovation

• Prebiotic fiber to support gut health in both human and pet nutrition

• Clean label texture solutions, including protein suspension and egg replacement

• Dental, thyroid, and maternal health support through naturally occurring nutrients

• Skin and coat health support in pet nutrition applications

• Sustainability and traceability from ocean-farmed, regenerative supply chains

Regeneratively ocean farmed kelp requires zero inputs—the ocean provides everything, with no need for freshwater, arable land, fertilizer, or pesticides. While kelp is in the water it is delivers environmental benefits such as absorbing nitrogen and carbon dioxide and increasing biodiversity.

Kelp is more than clean. It’s climate-positive, high-performing, and versatile across categories.

Our latest cohort is underway through October 2026, and applications are currently closed. We are planning the next cohort, with timing to be announced. Join our list to receive updates and early notification when applications open.

There is an administrative fee of $1,500 for brands selected to participate, which helps cover program and coordination costs.

Selected brands receive $50,000 in R&D and formulation support, plus a fully sponsored trip to Alaska to meet suppliers and experience regenerative kelp farming firsthand. Our goal is to ensure this program delivers far more value than the upfront cost.

During Kelp CoLab, Cohort Members develop high-performing, sustainable products powered by kelp-based ingredients. Targeted ingredient R&D supports this process by generating the research needed to substantiate science-backed claims. By the end of the program, brands have a validated product concept backed by data and designed to deliver meaningful consumer benefits.

GreenWave is a North American nonprofit dedicated to building and supporting the regenerative ocean farming (ROF) movement. Since 2014, we’ve helped scale ocean-farmed seaweed as a climate solution—producing high-yield, low-impact crops that offer a renewable, local supply ready to grow with demand.

Our work has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, Fast Company, TIME, and 200+ other articles, documentaries, and podcasts spotlighting how ocean-farmed kelp can help reshape supply chains across food, fashion, and beauty.

In many coastal communities, seaweed farming is expanding—repurposing boats, docks, and local expertise to build the next generation of ocean-based livelihoods.

We believe the CPG brands have a unique opportunity to shape how ocean-farmed ingredients enter the market—driving demand, setting standards, and telling a new kind of ingredient story rooted in performance, planet, and long-term value. That’s why we created Kelp CoLab: to help brands lead this shift, bridging the gap between ingredient innovation and real-world application to create ocean-powered products that perform.