EW Group’s Blue Future Holding has acquired the remaining stake in salmon sex-sorting tech firm GreenFox Marine it didn’t previously own.
Stjørdal, Norway-headquartered GreenFox Marine is a supplier of salmon gender-sorting technology and health examinations of fish using ultrasound and artificial intelligence.
Oslo, Norway-based Blue Future Holding is an investment firm owned by the EW Group, a German, family-owned, strategic holding company focused on agricultural and aquaculture breeding, genetics, pharmaceutical, and nutrition solutions that place an emphasis on sustainability. Blue Future Holding owns AquaGen, Genomar, and has part ownership in several companies within the aquaculture industry, including Laxey. It previously purchased 32.8 percent of GreenFox Marine.
“GreenFox Marine has a technology that has the potential to improve fish health in industrial farming, and is thus a natural addition to our portfolio,” Blue Future General Manager Odd Magne Rødseth said in a press release. “Having been minority owners for almost three years, we have seen how Greenfox Marine is in the forefront of this technology and we now look forward to assist Erling Aspen and team in speeding up the development and commercialization of existing and new applications.”
GreenFox Marine uses ultrasound and artificial intelligence to examine the fish's internal organs and structures for automated high-speed sex sorting of Atlantic salmon smolt from 30 grams and upward. Its machine has an accuracy rate of 96 to 99 percent, and can sort up to 3,600 fish per hour. The company soon plans to introduce sorters for other species, and to speed up its counting process. GreenFox Marine General Manager Erling Aspen said his firm is also investigating other applications for using its technology to fish welfare and efficiency in commercial aquaculture.
“The technology has great potential beyond gender sorting – with, among other things, the possibility of early detection of important health parameters such heart health, kidney changes, spinal deformities, and sexual maturation,” Aspen said. “Blue Future Holding is a long-term strategic owner who wants to invest further in our technology. They also have a lot of knowledge about the benefits of sex-sorted salmon farming through their global presence and previously carried out full-scale tests. The acquisition gives us opportunities for further development of both the technology and the company, as well as opening many new doors for us. We are then also in a better position to recruit important expertise in several key roles.”
Rødseth says that Greenfox Marine fits well into Blue Future Holding’s current portfolio and mission-based investment strategy.
“We want to invest in companies that use new ‘enabling’ technologies to solve known challenges in fish health and fish welfare such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and nanotechnology,” Rødseth said. “The fact that GreenFox Marine's automated solution for sexing farmed fish has already delivered very solid results for almost three years was also a decisive factor [in the investment].”
Salmon-farming companies in Norway, Great Britain, and the Faroe Islands are already using GreenFox Marine technology, according to Rødseth. He said Blue Holding will be involved in ensuring the technology is adopted more broadly across the industry.
