Umitron raises £8.9m for salmon and shrimp expansion
Aquaculture “deep tech” developer Umitron has raised around Singapore $15 million (£8.9m) from investment funds and banks to accelerate overseas business development for salmon and shrimp farming, among other things.
Singapore and Japan-based Umitron’s services include Remora, an artificial intelligence (AI) software service that can be installed in existing facilities at large-scale aquaculture farms without needing additional equipment.
Farmers install the software on the computer they use at the aquaculture site and connect it to the existing cameras installed in fish pens.
Existing IT resources
Remora can perform appetite analysis utilising the farm’s existing IT resources and does not require a stable communication environment or additional local servers. The software has real-time feed monitoring and dead fish detection capabilities, enabling farmers to optimise their feeding protocols and better manage production performance.
In a press release, Umitron said it had already introduced Remora in most major salmon farming regions such as Northern Europe and South America and expects to expand the service in the future.
The company’s other products include Pulse, a platform that utilises satellite remote sensing technology to acquire global high-resolution oceanographic data for aquaculture applications such as early warning of harmful algal blooms. Parameters include seawater temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll concentration, wave height, winds, and currents.
Pulse currently provides a 48-hour forecast, the latest available location data, and two years of historical data, which can be used for long-term planning and risk mitigation. The service is already being used in more than 20 countries in Europe, Southeast Asia, the Americas, and Oceania.
AI shrimp analysis
Umitron also offers Eagle, which it says is the world's first real-time AI analysis solution for shrimp farming. Eagle assesses shrimp production conditions using customised AI algorithms to track real-time biological conditions and other factors in highly turbid and intensive production environments.
The company is currently affiliated with Charoen Pokphant Foods (CPF), the world's largest shrimp farmer, and will expand to Southeast Asia, India and China in the future.
The Singapore $15m raised in the pre-Series B round takes the total amount raised by Umitron to Singapore $30m, following a Series A round in 2018.
Umitron said some of the new money would be used to further accelerate the establishment of local subsidiaries and business development in key salmon production regions such as Northern Europe and Chile, and in Southeast Asia, a major market and production hub for shrimp farming.
The investment will also strengthen the business foundation of Umitron’s existing and new services and enable it to increase collaboration with partners in which it has significant investments to date.
