Aquabyte raises $3.5M in a seed round supporting the business growth of a machine learning based tech for aquaculture.

Aquabyte, a San Francisco, USA and Bergen, Norway-based startup using computer vision and machine learning models to optimize fish farming efficiency, announced securing a $3.5M Seed Round of funding.

The backers were co-led by Costanoa Ventures and New Enterprise Associates (NEA), with participation from American and Norwegian investors, including Princeton University, Alliance Ventures and Spark Labs Global Ventures.

Aquabyte, founded in 2017 and led by CEO Bryton Shang, developed a technology aimed to augment the visual IQ of human-operated systems by collecting data with underwater 3D cameras. By installing these cameras in fish farm pens, the technology watches the fish and determines the size of fish/biomass in order to determine the optimal feed quantity.

The company built its prototype in USA and deploying it first in Norway, with the help with local investors and other stakeholders, such as NCE Seafood Innovation cluster. Aquabyte has set up a number of pilots at local research institutions and farms with sites around the country powered by a team in San Francisco and Bergen, Norway.