PacSea began as a childhood promise. Growing up in Sumner, Olivia Cooper set a goal at seven years old to work on solutions to climate change—an interest that naturally pulled her toward marine biology, seaweed, and eventually biochemistry at the University of Canterbury. The turning point came just days before a university venture programme deadline: with no business background but a clear problem to solve, she applied and started experimenting immediately—collecting fast-growing seaweed from the Avon-Heathcote Estuary and, through relentless trial and error, developing a thin, flexible seaweed-based film designed to replace petroleum plastics.

Since then, PacSea has moved from kitchen prototype to early validation. The material can be tailored for different applications—made thicker or thinner, heat-sealed, and adapted from soft wraps to firmer packaging formats. The first focus is bread packaging (bread bags and “window” films), because it’s a high-volume, practical starting point for local pilot trials. That traction is already building: PacSea has developed an initial prototype, gained media attention, and secured letters of intent from two Christchurch bakeries—clear early signals that local businesses want a compostable alternative that performs like plastic.

Looking ahead, PacSea’s ambition is to scale impact without forcing industry to rebuild. The long-term vision is to engineer the material so it can integrate into existing manufacturing workflows—ideally moving toward formats compatible with traditional processing (including the possibility of pellet-ready inputs). Near-term priorities are focused and practical: conduct R&D and lab trials to refine formulations, secure sustainability grants and research partnerships in New Zealand, and plan pilot trials with local businesses. From there, the roadmap steps toward pilot-scale manufacturing, certifications, and cost optimisation—then expanding applications and entering international markets where regulation and demand are accelerating the shift away from single-use plastics, starting with Australia and then highly sustainability-driven European markets.