With access to $6 million in capital, Clean Valley CIC has signed six contracts with oyster farming operations ranging from its home in Atlantic Canada to such far-flung markets as Portugal and Brunei.

Founded in 2018, Clean Valley has developed technology for growing algae in wastewater from land-based aquaculture pens. The algae can then be fed to oysters, after which the now-filtered water is circulated back into the pen. The algae- and oyster-growing systems are each housed in 20-foot shipping containers.

The company bills its technology as more sustainable than other water filtration methods, because its cyclical design does not rely on harsh chemicals and relies on processes that already occur in nature.

“The farmers need feed – you can't have a farm without it,” said Clean Valley CEO Nicholas LaValle in an interview. “And we were able to come up with a business plan through what's called hardware-as-a-service, where we're providing not only the technology but also a technician who is running that technology at an incremental monthly cost. It makes it a lot easier for farmers to essentially get a critical part of their supply chain without having to build a massive, million-dollar facility.”

Clean Valley is now working with clients not only in the Maritimes but also in Long Island, the U.K., Portugal and Brunei, and it is having discussions with potential clients in such countries as Indonesia and the Philippines.

LaValle is especially proud of the contract in Brunei, a small territory on the coast of Borneo in Southeast Asia. The Sultan and government of Brunei want to develop its blue economy so Clean Valley has been working with such groups as the Canadian Trade Commission and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of Brunei to build the country’s first oyster hatchery.

He is also proud that this company is help oyster farmers in the Maritimes at a time when their business is threatened by diseases. Last July, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed the presence of the highly damaging mollusc disease dermo in oysters from P.E.I.'s Egmont Bay. This came after another disease called MSX was detected in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island in 2024.

“The impact of MSX and Dermo have been incredibly detrimental to the oyster industry across the Maritimes,” said LaValle. “We're lucky to be working with groups like . . . Atlantic Aqua Farms to be combating this challenge and working with other institutions like Canada's Ocean Supercluster, Aqua Production Systems and IntegraSEE Research to make sure that we're able to come back from the spread of these terrible diseases.”
To finance this growth, the company has attracted equity investment of about $2 million, and leveraged that with access to $4 million in venture debt. LaValle said the equity investment allowed the company to develop and protect its intellectual property, while the loans will be used for operating capital as it executes on the contracts.  

For 2026, LaValle said the company is planning announcements around its carbon offset credit policies, working with a group called Carbon Asset in expanding into this area.

“We've been double-checking the science  . . . to be 100 percent certain that the product that we're going to be bringing to the market is not only solid but is also auditable and trustworthy,” said LaValle. “So we're really excited to be bringing that to the market.”