Photo: Adobe Stock
Norwegian aquaculture "big data" specialist AquaCloud is filing for bankruptcy. In a statement posted on LinkedIn announcing the decision, the board of AquaCloud said the organisation “no longer has financing for continued operations, and lacks the necessary support from the aquaculture industry to realize the plans that were in place.” The board has therefore petitioned for bankruptcy and begun a formal insolvency process.
Since being established in 2017, AquaCloud has developed tools and a shared data platform related to fish health, sea lice coordination, data standardisation and industry collaboration. The organisation’s work has been carried out in close collaboration with SIVA through the Catapult scheme, with projects funded by the Norwegian Seafood Research Fund (FHF), Innovation Norway, aquaculture companies and research groups.
The board said AquaCloud has “contributed to better insight, higher data quality and more structured collaboration in the industry," and argued that "the loss of AquaCloud's data platform and tools will set data sharing and interaction in the industry back several years.”
“We are very proud of the values AquaCloud has created for the aquaculture industry through better insight into fish health, increased data sharing and strengthened collaboration. These are tools the industry really needs,” the board statement continued, noting that AquaCloud has been involved in several research and innovation projects, with the potential loss of the platform and technology described as “a major setback for the knowledge base, innovation and research in the aquaculture industry.”
Despite the bankruptcy filing, the board said they hoped that AquaCloud’s assets can be carried forward through the insolvency process. “AquaCloud represents significant innovative power. The knowledge, tools, platform and people who have developed this are of great value to the industry – also in a new context,” the board said.
AquaCloud said it will work closely with the appointed trustee to ensure “an orderly and responsible liquidation process.”
