diff --git a/metagraph/src/graph/representation/hash/dbg_sshash.cpp b/metagraph/src/graph/representation/hash/dbg_sshash.cpp
index 1840cfedbe..db9d7c68a2 100644
--- a/metagraph/src/graph/representation/hash/dbg_sshash.cpp
+++ b/metagraph/src/graph/representation/hash/dbg_sshash.cpp
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 namespace mtg {
 namespace graph {
 
+const size_t kBufferSize = 10'000'000;
+
 #if _PROTEIN_GRAPH
 static constexpr uint16_t bits_per_char = sshash::aa_uint_kmer_t<uint64_t>::bits_per_char;
 #else
@@ -103,19 +105,21 @@ DBGSSHash::DBGSSHash(const std::string &input_filename,
         common::logger->trace("Marking colour boundaries");
         sdsl::bit_vector id(num_nodes_);
         {
+            ThreadPool thread_pool(get_num_threads());
             ProgressBar progress_bar(num_nodes(),
                                      "Parsing sequences",
                                      std::cerr, !common::get_verbose());
-            seq_io::read_fasta_file_critical(input_filename, [&](auto *read_stream) {
-                auto indices = mtg::graph::map_to_nodes_sequentially(*this, std::string(read_stream->seq.s, read_stream->seq.l));
+
+            auto process_sequence([&](const std::string &seq, const std::string &comment) {
+                auto indices = mtg::graph::map_to_nodes_sequentially(*this, seq);
                 assert(std::equal(indices.begin(), indices.end() - 1,
                                   indices.begin() + 1, indices.end(),
                                   [](node_index a, node_index b) { return a + 1 == b; }));
                 size_t pos = graph_index_to_sshash(indices[0]);
                 id[pos] = true;
-                auto split_string = utils::split_string(std::string(read_stream->comment.s, read_stream->comment.l), " ");
+                auto split_string = utils::split_string(comment, " ");
                 size_t old_pos = pos;
-                size_t nkmers = read_stream->seq.l - k_ + 1;
+                size_t nkmers = seq.size() - k_ + 1;
 
                 for (const auto &part : split_string) {
                     if (part[0] == 'C') {
@@ -130,9 +134,34 @@ DBGSSHash::DBGSSHash(const std::string &input_filename,
                     pos += nkmers;
 
                 assert(pos == old_pos + nkmers);
+                return nkmers;
+            });
 
-                progress_bar += nkmers;
+            BatchAccumulator<std::pair<std::string, std::string>> batcher(
+                [&](std::vector<std::pair<std::string, std::string>>&& buffer) {
+                    thread_pool.enqueue([&](auto&& buffer) {
+                        size_t total_kmers = 0;
+                        for (const auto &[seq, comment] : buffer) {
+                            total_kmers += process_sequence(seq, comment);
+                        }
+                        progress_bar += total_kmers;
+                    }, std::move(buffer));
+                },
+                std::numeric_limits<size_t>::max(),
+                kBufferSize
+            );
+
+            seq_io::read_fasta_file_critical(input_filename, [&](auto *read_stream) {
+                batcher.push_and_pay(
+                    read_stream->seq.l + read_stream->comment.l,
+                    std::make_pair(
+                        std::string(read_stream->seq.s, read_stream->seq.l),
+                        std::string(read_stream->comment.s, read_stream->comment.l)
+                    )
+                );
             });
+
+            thread_pool.join();
         }
 
         size_t update_batch = 10000;