Neptune Group : Building a Seaweed Industry in Brittany, from Coast to Consumer
2026-04-16
Founders Victoire de Lapasse (right) and Cécile Bury.
Seaweed is a staple in Japanese cuisine, but for many Europeans it still feels unfamiliar. Yet along the coast of Brittany, an extraordinary variety of seaweed grows naturally, deeply rooted in local ecosystems and traditions. Neptune Elements was created to bring this resource into everyday life.
The company was founded in 2021 by Victoire de Lapasse and Cécile Bury, with a simple but ambitious mission: to make seaweed a natural part of daily consumption.
“We realised that France has an incredible resource in Brittany,” Victoire explains. “There are green, brown and red seaweeds growing naturally along the coast. Yet most people rarely eat seaweed unless they are having Japanese food. We wanted to change that.”
The Coast of Brittany.
The two founders came to the project from very different professional backgrounds. Cécile previously worked as a lawyer, while Victoire’s career has been shaped by both gastronomy and the sea. She studied business and law, earned a cooking diploma, and also served in the French Navy. For her, Neptune Elements is a natural meeting point between these passions.
“At the heart of the company are two things I love: cooking and the ocean,” she says. “Seaweed brings them together.”
From brand to production
Different types of seaweed cultivated, harvested and processed by Neptune Elements into dried products.
Neptune Elements first began as a consumer brand, created to introduce seaweed through products that felt simple, appealing and easy to use. But as the company developed, the founders realised they also wanted to play a bigger role further up the value chain. Two years after launching the brand, they joined forces with a researcher specialising in seaweed cultivation and harvesting. This partnership enabled Neptune Elements to expand into production and innovative harvesting activities and became Neptune Group.
Today, the company is structured around two complementary branches. One is dedicated to B2B ingredients through Neptune BioIngredients (www.neptune-bioingredients.com), while the other continues to grow the Neptune Elements consumer brand. Through Neptune BioIngredients, the company is developing new uses for seaweed in sectors such as biofertilisers, biomaterials and animal nutrition.
“Seaweed can be used in many industries that are currently not very sustainable,” Victoire explains. “It is a resource that can help drive change.”
Making seaweed accessible
Alongside its industrial ambitions, Neptune Elements remains strongly focused on the consumer experience. Its range of culinary seaweeds, including wakame, dulse, kombu royal and sea lettuce, is sourced from Brittany and designed to fit naturally into everyday cooking. The brand also explores more familiar formats, such as herbal infusions and chocolate, making seaweed easier to discover and enjoy.
Education is another key part of the company’s approach. Neptune Elements shares recipes online, produces educational content, and has published a cookbook dedicated to cooking with seaweed.
“We want to make seaweed simple and accessible,” Victoire says. “Many people do not know how to cook with it. Once they try it, they realise it works with many flavours.”
The company also experiments with creative ways of introducing seaweed to new audiences. Chocolate infused with red seaweed is one example, showing that seaweed can find its place in both savoury and sweet creations. Herbal infusions offer another approachable entry point. In addition to food products, Neptune Elements also offers supplements such as spirulina and klamath, reflecting a broader wellbeing philosophy built around natural marine ingredients.
Different products from the Neptune Elements consumer brand.
Looking ahead
For Neptune, seaweed is both a culinary ingredient and a resource for the future. By combining production, innovative harvesting techniques, ingredient innovation and consumer education, the company aims to transform the way Europeans think about marine plant life.
“Our mission is to democratise seaweed,” Victoire says. “It should not feel exotic. It should be something people and industries use naturally in their everyday lives and products.”
With Brittany as its foundation and a growing network across Europe, Neptune Group is steadily turning that vision into reality.
To learn more about Neptune Elements, visit: www.neptuneelements.com
