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Our Story

Raising exceptional seafood

For centuries, fishing and seafood has been an essential part of Icelandic society. We’re located in Grindavik, a legendary seafood town with a 1,000 year old seafood tradition. We are proud to carry on the tradition by raising our fish in crystal-clear waters without chemicals or hormones and by feeding them a quality diet. The result? The world’s healthiest and best tasting choice for our consumers. Our land-based aquaculture system makes us a consistent and trusted source of quality fish. You can find Matorka fish, including our Arctic Char and Steelhead, across North America and Europe.

Iceland map
Hlíðasmári
Our headquarters
Hella
Our fish hatchery
Grindavik
Our fish raising and processing facilities
Keflavík
Our fish are shipped out of nearby Keflavík International Airport

Our Impactour commitment to sustainability

In Icelandic, “mat” means food and “orka” means energy. Matorka translates to food energy. Food is indeed energy, but we take it a step further. Our operations run on sustainable, geothermal energy and any carbon footprint we produce is offset by tree planting. Our fish is more sustainable than wild catch and all other forms of aquaculture. Land-based aquaculture is a key component of responsible seafood production.

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Our Fishresponsibly raised in Grindavik, Iceland

We raise the best tasting fish in the salmon family. From egg to harvest, our fish are raised without chemicals, or hormones and are fed a high quality, sustainable diet.

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Our Teamdedicated to raising sustainable seafood

Christo du Plessis
Chief Executive Officer

Christo joined Matorka´s board in April 2022.

After holding senior positions in FMCG, Retail and Insurance in South Africa, Christo joined Abagold the largest land-based aquaculture entity in Southern Africa, in 2003 as CFO and was promoted to CEO after 5 years. After 12 years with the Abagold group he decided to relocate to Europe in 2016 and joined The Kingfish Company, a dutch based leading land-based RAS farming and processing entity in 2019. At the Kingfish Company he rapidly grew his responsibilities from joining as Head of Sales and Operations, being promoted to General Manager within a year and to CFO in November 2020.
Christo completed his B.Compt (Honours) degree in Finance and Accounting in South Africa in 1994 and qualified as Chartered Accountant (SA) in 1997.

Árni Páll Einarsson
Chief Commercial Officer

Árni is passionate about sustainable aquaculture and has over 20 years of experience running international seafood and aquaculture companies. With an MA in Economics and a BA in International Affairs, he has an extensive understanding and in-depth knowledge of international sales and the marketing of aquaculture products.

Alexander K. Gudmundsson
Chief Financial Officer

Alexander has over 20 years of experience in finance, green energy, and advisory services. Previously, he was the CEO of a geothermal energy investment company and the CFO of a leading Icelandic seafood bank. Prior to these roles, he worked with AGA in Sweden. He holds a Candidatus oeconomices degree from the University of Iceland.

Sveinbjörn Oddsson
Chief Operational Officer

A biologist, Sveinbjörn has over 35 years of experience in aquaculture working in Norway, Chile, Australia, Indonesia and Iceland. In these roles, he has gained extensive knowledge in both land-based and ocean-based aquaculture operations.

Stefanía K. Karlsdóttir
Director of Business Development and Co-founder

With an MBA, MA and BSc in Food Science, Stefanía was previously a board member of Landsbanki, Corporate Banking, CFO of Keilir, Former Mayor of Arborg, former Rector of Technical University of Iceland.