The funding comes from cleantech investor Earth Capital Limited (ECL), and will be used to expand Ace Aquatec’s product portfolio and presence in various markets.

Ten jobs are also expected to be created through this investment in engineering, software and sales in both Dundee and Chile.  

With this recent investment by ECL, Ace Aquatec has raised more than £10 million since its 2019 Series A led by Aqua-Spark and Chroma Ventures. 

Following this move, ECL’s senior investment manager Bradley Jones will join the Ace Aquatec board. Chris van der Kuyl CBE, principal investor of Chroma Ventures,  will assume the position of Chair.

Finally, Nina Santi will join the board as a non-executive director. Santi is a senior advisor at INAQ AS, a strategy advisory firm specialising in the seafood industry.

“The team’s support and expertise will help us scale the business and take another huge step forward in the development of high-welfare products for the global seafood industry,” said Nathan Pyne-Carter, CEO of Ace Aquatec.

Ace Aquatec is a science and technology company trying to drive sustainable and “welfare-first” agricultural practices.

With the new funding, the company wants to further develop its aquaculture tech solutions, such as its biomass camera. The underwater camera uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to detect and quantify fish biomass, providing the user with real time data. 

The investment comes on the backdrop of a growing reliance on sustainable food systems to meet the needs of a growing world population. The world population is expected to reach 8.5 billion by the end of this decade, and 17% of the world’s protein comes from fish according to eit food, meaning new methods will be needed to improve aquaculture sustainability. 

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Bradley Jones, senior investment manager of Earth Capital Limited said: “Championing sustainable practices and setting high welfare standards paves the way to ensuring that seafood farming becomes one of the biggest opportunities to responsibly feed a growing population.”

“Since our first investment in Ace Aquatec, we’ve known they had the vision to transform the sector by developing products that make fish farming more humane while protecting the environment,” said Josien Bakker, investment manager at Aqua-Spark. “They have built a well-known brand, due to the company’s accessibility and scientific evidence.  Its growth since then is proof that breakthrough technologies are being embraced by farmers, processors, and supermarkets pushing for improved fish welfare across the entire industry.”