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The Ocean AgeAuthor: Fed DeGobbi
Actionable insights for entrepreneurs and innovators building the blue economy.Through interviews with industry leaders, founders, and subject matter experts, I will share their stories, unpack their most important lessons, and extract useful tactics. Language: en Genres: Business, Earth Sciences, Entrepreneurship, Science Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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#47: Catarina Ricca (Ínclita Seaweed Solutions) – The Biotechnologist Who Learnt the Science of Selling
Monday, 14 September, 2026
Here is a link to get more information about The Ocean Age Walk & Talk and join the waitlist.Getting the science right turns out to be the easy part. Catarina Ricca trained as a biotechnologist and spent years in the lab before crossing over to the commercial side of the business. At Ínclita Seaweed Solutions she takes seaweed-based active ingredients into cosmetics, an industry with long buying cycles, gatekeepers at every stage, and firm ideas about what a product should look and smell like. This is a practical walk-through of how that market actually works and what it takes to get an ingredient into it, with many of the tactics being transferable to many other B2B go-to-market strategies. Catarina's bio:Catarina Ricca is Business Development Manager at Ínclita Seaweed Solutions in Porto, where she has led the commercial side of the business since 2023. She trained as a biotechnologist at the Escola Superior de Biotecnologia of Universidade Católica Portuguesa and holds an MSc in Technology, Science and Food Safety from Universidade do Porto. She started her career in the lab, running yeast cultures in the beverage industry, before moving into genetics and preclinical work, then crossing over to the commercial side selling genetic tests to hospitals.She then spent thirteen years in software, mostly SaaS, doing business development and product management.Ínclita was founded in 2018 as the first spin-off of CIIMAR, the marine research centre at the University of Porto. It develops seaweed-based active ingredients using green extraction methods and a biorefinery approach aimed at zero waste, starting with cosmetics and expanding into nutraceuticals, pet care, food, and biostimulants. The company reports five patents submitted, full traceability from sea to factory, and opened its own biorefinery in Portugal in 2026.Timestamps:00:00:00 - Introduction00:02:29 - Deciding at fifteen to become a biotechnologist00:20:24 - The three-hour conversation that led to Ínclita00:23:50 - What Ínclita does and why it started with cosmetics00:26:27 - Building a second revenue stream through co-development00:38:45 - The emerald green extract nobody would buy00:43:23 - Rebuilding the roadmap around colour and scent00:49:21 - The green premium and who ends up paying for it00:58:05 - Why distributors will carry most of the revenue01:07:46 - Formulators, marketing, and the people who sign the order01:26:21 - Pastéis de nata and the small things buyers remember01:46:43 - A call for unity across the seaweed industryUseful Links & Resources:The Ocean Age Walk & Talk - Link to join the waitlistCatarina Ricca on LinkedInISS - Ínclita Seaweed Solutions: Website, LinkedIn, and InstagramDerek Sivers on the CD Baby order email Fed mentions: The most successful email I ever wroteDerek Sivers' book Anything You WantÍnclita at Cosmetorium, Barcelona, 21 and 22 OctoberGet in touch with The Ocean Age's host Fed DeGobbi on LinkedIn, X or by emailing directly at fed@oceanage.coThe Ocean Age Podcast is edited by Nebojsa Lešević. Sarah Carpenter and Giulia Leanza are our research assistants.Please send in your feedback: what do you want to hear more or less of? Any suggestions? Would love to hear what you think!Send us Fan Mail
