Finless Foods is committed to creating a future for seafood where the ocean thrives. Co-Founders Michael Selden and Brian Wyrwas founded the company to create delicious, healthy, and accessible cell-cultured seafood alternatives. Finless Foods offers options for all palates and dietary preferences, providing consumers with a range of responsibly produced food products to diversify their daily habits and pave the way toward a more sustainable future and a healthier ocean.

Michael Selden is the CEO and Co-Founder of Finless Foods. His background in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology has played a big role in him dedicating his life to climate justice and science advocacy. His research has spanned many fields - from solving food crises in Africa, to marine conservation in Southeast Asia.

Back in 2014, Michael was inspired by an article in the Atlantic that announced a crucial scientific development: the ability to synthesize horseshoe crab blood, a vital component within many lifesaving vaccines. Michael wondered, “If we can make horseshoe crab blood without horseshoe crabs, why can’t we make seafood without harvesting fish?” One night over beers with Brian Wyras, a friend from college who was working as a research technician at the time, the two fleshed out their ideas and laid the foundation for what would soon become one of the most innovative companies in the future of agriculture.

In 2017, Finless Foods created the first fish meat grown outside of a living fish to ever be consumed by a person. Eventually, Michael’s relentless passion and innovative vision attracted $3.5 million in seed funding, and even landed him and his co-founder Brian a coveted spot on Forbes 30 Under 30 for social impact in 2021.

Beyond his dedication to creating a more sustainable future for our oceans, Michael finds a healthy work-life balance by cultivating his interests in music and audio engineering. He enjoys playing instruments like the bass guitar and drums, as well as a modular synthesizer that he built himself. In his spare time, he loves to read about the political economy as well as science fiction. He currently resides in the Bay Area with his beloved bulldog, Roscoe the Pig.

As a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Brian has always recognized science to be the most efficient way to turn “nothing into something.” After graduation, he took his talents to Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, where he worked to grow human cells for medical purposes and assisted in both the laboratory and clinic, giving him a holistic understanding of how their experiments directly impacted patients. 

While readying applications for his PhD in 2016, Brian’s career took a sudden, exciting turn. He had beers with his college friend, Michael Selden, who pitched him on a start-up idea based around cell-cultured seafood. After quickly educating himself on the degradation of ocean ecosystems, he knew he wanted to be a part of the cell-cultured revolution. Alongside Selden, the two started out by researching and specifying the fastest depleting fish populations, landing on bluefin tuna. Brian then traveled across the globe to harvest the best bluefin cells for experimentation and cultivation of cell-cultured fish filets, and Finless Foods was officially born. 

At Finless Foods, Brian is in charge of the lab operations behind the cell-cultured production, and his efforts landed him a coveted spot on Forbes 30 Under 30 alongside his Co-Founder.

Brandon Chen, Chief Technology Officer of Finless Foods, has long been involved in biotech and conservation. As a technologist and long-time surfer, he’s always been interested in developing solutions to the issues that impact health and the environment. Prior to joining Finless Foods, his extensive career path centered around working with bioprocess engineers, where he witnessed the scale-up process and commercialization of fermentation-based chemical products.

In 2019, Brandon joined the Finless Foods team after meeting with the Co-Founders and aligning heavily with their mission and values. Brandon loves the inherent diversity at Finless Foods, which is comprised of a team with different backgrounds, cultures, and working styles. He believes inclusion and diversity are key elements for the success of any company. Putting his extensive knowledge and skillset to valuable use, Brandon works closely with the team on research and development of cell-cultivated seafood, leading toward scale-up and commercialization.