Following the acquisition, Seaqloud will strengthen its position even more as one of the seafood industry's bigger SaaS players.
Photo: Seaqloud.
Norwegian seafood investment firm Bluefront Equity announced today that Seaqloud, a software and sensor technology provider to the seafood industry in which it is a majority shareholder, will acquire fellow Norwegian company Sematek, thereby strengthening its offering of sensors within the aquaculture and maritime industries.
The acquisition of Sematek – Senter for materialteknologi AS – is Seaqloud's third in two years. The first, in August 2023, brought Seacloud together with the software company Naviaq, from whose merger Seaqloud emerged. Subsequently, it acquired Meox's 'Guardian' environmental monitoring products and software.
As a result, Seaqloud has become one of the seafood industry's bigger SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) players, a position that will now be reinforced with the addition of Sematek.
The parties have agreed not to disclose the financial details of the transaction, but Bluefront Equity's release did report that, once all transactions are complete, Seaqloud will own 100% of Sematek's shares, which it has acquired from the company's founders and employees.
As mentioned, Seaqloud offers sensors and software that provide an overview of the environmental conditions of fish, both above and below the surface. In addition, the company provides solutions that offer an overview of equipment, operations, and logistics, helping to standardize, safeguard, and streamline work processes in the aquaculture industry.
For its part, Sematek's two main products are sensors for escape detection in floating structures such as feed barges and closed cages, as well as load cells that measure and record stresses on mooring components of floating installations. It also supplies wave breakers and performs service and maintenance tasks on equipment delivered to cages, feed barges, and other floating structures made of steel, composite, and other materials.
"Integrating our sensor products into a dedicated software and sensor technology company like Seaqloud is a solid technological and industrial match that will enable us to offer even more comprehensive operational solutions for the aquaculture industry," stated Tore Birkeland, managing director at Sematek.
"The combination of Seaqloud's sensor technology and software makes it easier to comply with requirements for on-site environmental monitoring. By integrating Sematek's sensor products in Seaqloud's portfolio, we will be able to further improve fish farmers' operational reliability through gaining a better understanding of their maintenance needs," said for his part Frode Næss, who took on the role of managing director of Seaqloud earlier this year.
As said above, in addition to expanding its portfolio of solutions, the acquisition of Sematek will also contribute to Seaqloud's geographical expansion within Norway. The Bluefront-owned company is headquartered in Trondheim and has additional offices in Alta, where its service center is located, Namsos, and Tromsø.
Sematek, meanwhile, is based in Bergen, where it will remain, although, as announced in Bluefront Equity's release on the acquisition, it will soon move to new, larger premises that will be better suited as a maintenance hub for equipment and components.
"Seaqloud's geographical stronghold has until now been from Trøndelag to Finnmark county. The acquisition of Sematek gives us a presence in Vestlandet country, which is also a very important fish farming region. The acquisition is geographically complementary, which is beneficial for both Sematek and Seaqloud," Frode Næss explained.
The release also noted that, for all practical purposes, Sematek will be integrated with the Seaqloud team, although it will continue to operate as an independent limited company. It also emphasized that all Sematek employees will remain with the company.
Commenting on the acquisition, Johan Kostveit, investment manager in Bluefront and board member of Seaqloud and Sematek, said that a re-focusing operation of Sematek's product and service offering was carried out in 2023 and 2024. "We began to see the results of this in 2024," he added. "However, the potential is much greater, and we believe the combination with Seaqloud will help realize some of this," Kostveit concluded.
In 2024, Sematek's operating income was NOK 13.2 million (EUR 1.10 million / USD 1.29 million), an increase of 44% over the previous year. In the same period, operating profit increased tenfold, from NOK 0.2 million (EUR 16,761 / USD 19,626) to NOK 2.0 million (EUR 167.612 / USD 196.244).
