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Oyster Heaven
What if nature already had the perfect solution for cleaner waters?
How Orange Wings & Oyster Heaven
are restoring our oceans
At Orange Wings, we don’t just invest in businesses—we help build them. We back the people with world-changing ideas, the ones willing to challenge broken systems and rewrite industries. But we also make sure those ideas don’t just survive, but scale.
That’s why we backed Oyster Heaven—not just a company, but a bold bet that nature itself is a valuable asset—and that valuing it properly could power an entirely new kind of industry.
Chapter 1
The breakthrough
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 1
The vision:
a business model for nature
Oysters are the architects of the ocean. They filter water, create thriving marine ecosystems, and even protect shorelines. But today, 85% of the world’s oyster reefs are already gone. What forests are to the land, oyster reefs are to the sea—and for decades, we let them vanish without a plan to bring them back. Fortunately, it’s not too late.
George Birch saw this as more than an ecological disaster. He saw a business opportunity.
Coming from the finance world, he knew why nature kept losing out—it wasn’t valued in the economy. “If we don’t make nature an asset, it will never be prioritized.”
His vision? Not just rebuilding oyster reefs—but rebuilding the North Sea itself.
Historically, oysters covered 20% of the North Sea floor. They filtered the water so effectively that it was once clear. Today, that ecosystem is functionally extinct. George and his team want to bring it back.
“People forget that the North Sea wasn’t always this murky. It used to be clear. The water was alive.”
To do that, Oyster Heaven isn’t just scattering oysters and hoping for the best—they’re building a vertical model that makes restoration profitable, scalable, and permanent.
The idea was simple: governments need coastal protection and water quality solutions, corporations are seeking ways to actively contribute to a more sustainable future, and fishing communities benefit from restored ecosystems.
Instead of treating these as separate efforts, Oyster Heaven has built a model where multiple industries can co-fund different benefits of the reefs.
This isn’t conservation – it’s infrastructure.
Chapter 2
The leap
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Backing the brave:
Orange Wings steps in
When George first developed the idea for Oyster Heaven, marine restoration wasn’t exactly a hot pitch. It was seen as slow, complex, and hard to monetize. Most investors were focused on faster, cleaner plays.
But Orange Wings saw what others overlooked: a solution with the potential to transform not just the ocean, but the economic model around conservation: a high-impact solution that governments, industries, and pension funds would eventually pay for. “An idea is just an idea,” Shawn told George early on. “If you don’t make it a business, it won’t last.”
“For me, the most important impact that we could have is creating this financially scalable model for oyster reef restoration without the need for harvesting a resource.”
George Birch
Founder and Business Lead
And when Orange Wings invests, we don’t just cut a check—we get in the trenches. Together, we tackled the hardest parts of turning vision into execution:
- Building a profitable vertical chain – The biggest mistake in conservation? Relying on donations. From the start, George was set on building a model where corporations pay for tangible ecosystem benefits—like cleaner water, reduced nitrogen levels, and richer biodiversity. Orange Wings helped sharpen this model and stress-test its viability: Could it work for pension funds? Would it fit into carbon and nitrogen offset markets? How could it scale without compromising integrity?
- Laying the groundwork for growth – The team studied contracts, rewrote where needed, and strengthened the foundations for replication. It wasn’t just about launching reefs—it was about creating a blueprint for a new industry.
- Getting the first reefs in the water – With backing from Nestlé Purina Petcare Europe, the Belgian FOD, and other partners, Oyster Heaven began deploying reefs by the millions. Suddenly, it wasn’t just a vision—it was working.
But the most important thing Orange Wings gave George wasn’t just funding. It was oversight, pressure, and room to make mistakes.
We weren’t here to cushion the risks—we were here to push the company forward, while making sure they didn’t fall into the traps that sink early-stage businesses.
“I’ve had a lovely amount of free reign—and a huge amount of patience. But I’ve also always had a group of people watching my back. Orange Wings gave us the space to make mistakes, but not the ones that could have killed us.” — George Birch
Oyster Heaven wasn’t built by playing it safe. It was built by balancing ambition with reality.
Back & forth
between Oyster Heaven
and Shawn
One afternoon at the Orange Wings office, Shawn Harris and George Birch sat across from each other, deep in conversation. It wasn’t about whether oyster restoration was necessary—they both knew that. The question was how to make it work, not just ecologically, but financially.
“That’s why we’re structuring it the way we are. We can’t wait for governments to catch up—we have to make them want to pay for it. Oyster reefs provide ecosystem services that are worth billions, but right now, no one’s valuing them properly.”
“I knew this would be hard. But I didn’t expect to fight on so many fronts at once. The licensing alone—”
“George, I believe in this. I believed in it from the start. But you have to make sure it runs as a business—otherwise, it won’t last.”
“That’s the key. Nature is already being valued—it’s just being valued badly. If you turn up the value, if you make biodiversity and natural water filtration a tradeable asset, then suddenly, people protect it like they do a cobalt mine.”
“Welcome to changing the world. The Dutch government will realize they can’t meet their nitrogen targets without you. Nestlé already sees it. The pension funds will follow. But you have to be patient. Keep proving it works.”
Chapter 3
The fire
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 3
From skepticism
to global scale
Today, Oyster Heaven isn’t just proving the skeptics wrong—it’s leading the way.
By 2025, the company will have deployed over 4 million oysters, making it Europe’s largest oyster restoration project.
Oyster Heaven holds restoration licenses in the Netherlands, Belgium, and the UK, laying the foundation for its clay-based reef structures across multiple coastal ecosystems. They’ve developed Mother Reef technology—a clay-based substrate seeded with oysters, designed to create scalable, cost-effective reefs. The innovation has not gone unnoticed, earning Oyster Heaven the Neptune Award at Ocean Exchange for marine innovation.
And they’re expanding fast.
- Project Asta will deploy 4 million oysters in Veerse Meer, making it Europe’s most ambitious restoration effort to date.
- Expansion is underway in the UK, Belgium, Ireland, Scotland, Denmark, and the US.
- By 2030, Oyster Heaven will:
- Filter 20 billion liters of water per day
- Increase marine life by 40 billion sea creatures
- Manage 200 tonnes of sewage fertilizer annually
- Secure funding for 100 million oysters
And this is just the beginning.
“What we’re really building isn’t just reefs—it’s an industry,” George says. “We’re proving that investing in nature isn’t just a good idea. It’s a profitable one.”
Shawn sees it the same way. “Governments and corporations spend billions on ineffective environmental solutions. Oyster Heaven is proving that working with nature—not against it—is the best investment they’ll ever make.”
Chapter 4
The legacy
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Bravery in action:
the hard calls that built a business
This journey wasn’t easy. It demanded relentless patience, tough decisions, and unwavering belief in the mission.
George faced years-long licensing procedures, with approvals dragging on far longer than expected. “I was struggling with just a lot of people telling me it was a far-out idea,” he recalls.
It wasn’t just regulators and NGOs. George deliberately turned down venture capital funding from investors who didn’t understand long-term ecosystem economics. He refused to sell out to short-term thinking.
The Orange Wings team stood by him every step of the way.
“We’re proving that investing in nature isn’t just a good idea. It’s a profitable one.”
From the legal battles to financial structuring, the team—including Shawn, Lisette, and others—acted as more than investors. They became partners in building the vision.
George sums it up best: “Working with Shawn and Orange Wings Investments has been phenomenal. I never expected the level of support and warm advice from an investor that we have received. It is so much more than the money. I know we wouldn’t be anywhere near where we are today without her and her team.”
Bravery pays
Oyster Heaven is proving that nature-based solutions can compete in the economy.
At Orange Wings, this is exactly the kind of bold, high-impact thinking we believe in.
We invest in the people willing to rewrite the rules of business—and in this case, to rewrite the future of our oceans.
Because real change doesn’t happen without bravery. And when that bravery meets the right business model?
It pays.
“We’re proving that investing in nature isn’t just a good idea. It’s a profitable one.”
Oyster Heaven has set its most ambitious goal yet. By 2045 we hope governments are mandating reef restoration as part of their climate action plans. Then sustainable aquaculture businesses can thrive under new models that value ecosystem services.
Shawn summed up the transformation: “What we’ve built isn’t just a movement—it’s a market. The future of environmental investment isn’t about working against nature. It’s about harnessing its power for a better planet.”
And the best part? We are just getting started.
To be continued