Seafood investor adds aquaculture software business to portfolio

Seafood investor Bluefront Equity has agreed to acquire the aquaculture business of Norway-based software company Piscada, which delivers software for process control and analytics to the fish farming industry. 

“We believe that digitising core processes and enabling biology and economics to work in tandem is the key to a more efficient and sustainable seafood industry. That is also why we acquire Piscada’s aquaculture business,” says Kjetil Haga, partner and chief executive at Bluefront.

Piscada’s software platform manages, analyses, optimises, and controls feeding operations in both ocean-based net pens and land-based aquaculture facilities. The company has also developed a cloud-based solution for decision support, management, and monitoring of various aquaculture applications.

Bluefront said Piscada is a platform that integrates innovative technologies, thereby enabling customers to unleash the full technology potential in their day-to-day operations.

The software platform provides a valuable complete overview of daily operations and enables control of feeding intensity, winch adjustments, camera positioning and integration with new, innovative solutions.

A holistic view

“We provide fish farmers with a holistic visual overview of feeding parameters in all fish cages,” said Steinar Fossen, who heads up Piscada’s aquaculture division and becomes the managing director of the business that Bluefront now acquires.

“We also integrate data about weather and environmental conditions, which is supplied by our new sister company Seaqloud. By connecting sensors, we can also analyse where in the cage the fish are swimming in order to optimise the feeding process. Those of us in Piscada who work with the fish farming industry look forward to becoming part of a fully-fledged aquaculture team in Bluefront.”

Piscada’s aquaculture operation consists of 7-8 people and is headquartered in Trondheim. The business generated revenue of approximately NOK 22 million last year and delivered a positive operating result. Salmon farmers Mowi, Lerøy, and Grieg Seafood are among the company’s customers.

“Piscada has developed its aquaculture platform to become a competitive and profitable solution that is utilised by highly attractive customers,” said Torgeir Pedersen, managing director of Piscada AS. “Bluefront is the right owner to elevate our aquaculture platform to another level. We are very pleased with the process we have gone through together with Bluefront, and we know that both the product and the employees are in safe hands. Piscada will now refine and further develop our real estate platform and take this to new heights.”

Wholly owned by Bluefront

In the transaction, the aquaculture business is carved out of Piscada and subsequently divested to Bluefront’s second fund, Bluefront Capital II, which will own 100% of the aquaculture business following completion of all transactions, but before employees become shareholders. The parties have agreed to not disclose the financial details of the transaction.

Piscada is Bluefront’s fifth investment in companies that deliver software solutions to the aquaculture industry. Bluefront has previously invested in software players Seaqloud, Naviaq, Spillfree Analytics, and Horizon Software (formerly FiiZK Digital), which all deliver specialised digital solutions to various part of the seafood value chain.