Bluefront, which invests in companies with products, services, and technologies that contribute to the aquaculture industry sustainability through farm digitalization and automatization, became the majority owner of Seacloud with a 51% ownership share.
The investment, which was conducted through Bluefront Capital I, a certified sustainability fund in line with the EU’s comprehensive taxonomy guidelines, was made through a combination of the purchase of shares from current Seacloud shareholders and a NOK 20 million (USD 2.04 million) capital injection that will be utilized to finance further growth both in Norway and internationally.
Bluefront Equity’s partner Kjetil Haga becomes a new board member of Seacloud. Bluefront Equity will also strengthen Seacloud’s board of directors with two additional members.
Seacloud was founded in 2016 by Jørn-Roar Pedersen, who identified a niche for smart monitoring solutions for ocean-based industries. The core of Seacloud’s service offering is proprietary software that can communicate with all types of sensors, irrespective of the type of equipment and the end user. In addition, the company sells different sensor technologies.
The company, which has 14 employees, is located in Alta, North Norway, with regional offices in Tromsø and Trondheim. In 2021, Seacloud had revenues of NOK 14 million (USD 1.4 million) but enters 2023 with annual recurring revenues (ARR) of approximately NOK 20 million (USD 2 million).
Among the sensors that Seacloud offers and connects to its cloud-based software are environmental stations that provide a complete overview of the ocean environment, weather stations that provide information about weather, wind, currents and wave height, level measurement of all types of tanks and silos, plus pH measurement of silage. Seacloud also offers complete vessel integration that provides shipowners and fish farming companies with a full overview of all vessels plus engine and vessel data.
“There is an almost incomprehensibly large and continuously increasing amount of sensor data in the seafood industry. Seacloud aggregates the data that the different sensors capture and convert it into meaningful information which in turn forms the basis for making smart operational decisions. The company is a catalyst for digitalization and streamlining of the seafood industry,” said Kjetil Haga, partner at Bluefront Equity. “We provide financing that will contribute towards the continuous development of Seacloud’s software platform, to the benefit of customers, plus continued growth and increased presence closer to customers in both Norway and abroad.”
“There is huge potential in this data, especially when it is put into context. This is exactly what Seacloud does on behalf of fish farmers, shipowners, and others. We aggregate and make the data available to enable more efficient operations, reduce operating costs, reduce the impact on the local environment, protect biomass, reduce CO2 emissions and prevent equipment breakdowns,” said Jørn-Roar Pedersen, Seacloud’s founder and head of sales and business development.
