Singapore Aquaculture Technologies (SAT), the creator of “Smart Floating Fish Farm” tropical fish-farming system, has closed its Series A funding round, with Munich, Germany-based conglomerate Siemens playing a major role.
The main part of the financing round, which was worth SGD 9.2 million (USD 6.8 million, EUR 5.8 million), came from Siemens Financial Services (SFS) via Siemens Project Ventures GmbH - the financing unit of Siemens. With the investment, SFS has become SAT’s first institutional shareholder and now holds a significant minority stake in the Singapore company, Siemens said in a press release.
The investment in SAT has demonstrated Siemens’ support for sustainable food production in Singapore, according to SFS Equity Finance CEO Steffen Grosse.
“Siemens is deeply committed to sustainability and this is reflected in both our investment and technologies,” Grosse said. “By investing in SAT, we hope to further support sustainable food production and help Singapore to achieve its ‘30 by 30’ goal of 30 percent local food production by 2030.”
SAT's founders, Dirk Eichelberger and Michael Voigtmann, said they hope their new partnership with Siemens will bolster SAT’s plan to become a top provider of data- and artificial intelligence (AI)-based aquaculture solutions. It will also help the company increase the production of its fish products under its BluCurrent label.
In February 2020, SAT launched its first Smart Floating Fish Farm, which it expects to produce up to 350 metric tons (MT) of barramundi and red snapper by the end of 2021. The farm is equipped with a recirculating aquaculture system and multi-level water treatment process, and its operations are integrated via a management information system designed to effectively control the entire farming environment through automation, the company said.
As part of their collaboration, Siemens Digital Industries has provided the SAT with an end-to-end digital solution to help monitor its operations and process data, which is supported by smart sensors and the IoT operating system MindSphere, the company said.
Siemens and SAT also signed a memorandum of understanding during the farm’s opening in February 2020, under which the two sides will collaborate to commercialize the firm’s “Aquaculture 4.0” technologies in Southeast Asia region and beyond.
The two partners aim to open two additional smart farms in Singapore by September this year, which will help raise SAT’s fish production capacity to more than 1,000 MT per year.
Siemens has also inked a strategic collaboration agreement to support with SAT to support in its future growth schemes in Singapore and beyond, Siemens said.
Photo courtesy of Singapore Aquaculture Technologies
