Tech company OptoScale has ambitious plans for the future.
In January last year, SalmonBusiness reported on the company OptoScale, which can measure biomass in the cage and has developed a technology based on structured light. The point of the measurement is twofold: Follow the growth of fish, and report the correct weight distribution for harvest.
The measuring tool, which has been named BioScope and takes 200 images every second of the fish swimming around the cage, has been tested in recent years by SalMar at various locations.
“In 2025 we will have 1,000 units in operation, and we will be a cornerstone company in the Norwegian technology capital, Trondheim. OptoScale should be mentioned in the same breath as Atmel and Nordic Semiconductor,” said OptoScale co-founder and CEO Sven Jørund Kolstø (31) to Finansavisen.
According to the homepage of OptoScale, tests against harvest results show that the deviation in practice lies within the requirement of an average error measurement on average.
“Today, farmers don’t really know if fish gets too much, too little, or just a lot of food. Some believe it is best with one meal a day, others give a little and often. The question to whether or not you have done it right doesn’t get answered until the salmon is harvested,” said Kolstø.
He believes that the real value creation in BioScope is the real-time monitoring of fish growth, which in turn can lead to lower feed costs.
According to the publication, OptoScale has raised EUR 204,000 in investor capital so far and Kolstø said the plan is to grow organically at normal speed. Though he isn’t ruling out more capital later on in order to achieve faster growth.
