Led · Equity · Jun 2023

Ace Aquatec develops welfare-first aquaculture technology, including AI cameras that track fish weights, detect health issues such as wounds or maturation, and track individuals across multiple species. The company also produces humane slaughter systems for farmed and wild fish that use electricity in water. Led by CEO Nathan Pyne-Carter and based in Dundee, the firm supplies tools aimed at improving both fish welfare and operational performance for farmers. The recent financing will enable development of data-driven tools to provide actionable insights for customers worldwide. Ace Aquatec plans to use the funds to expand its presence in Scotland, Chile and elsewhere in South America and to create 15 new roles. The description and future plans are drawn from the company's statements accompanying the funding announcement. ACE Aquatec is a Dundee-based aquaculture technology firm focused on welfare-centric solutions for fish farming. Its product portfolio includes a biomass camera that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning and is now in production following successful trials. The company says the new capital will be used to boost its product range, market reach, and distributor network across key markets including the UK, Europe, Canada, Southeast Asia, and South America. The funding is expected to support hiring in engineering, software, and sales support, with the company projecting ten new jobs in Dundee and Chile. ACE Aquatec has raised more than £10m since its Series A round, and the recent £2.5m injection from sustainability investor Earth Capital complements prior investments from Aqua Spark and Chroma Ventures. Board changes tied to the deal include Earth Capital’s Bradley Jones joining ACE Aquatec’s board, with Chris van der Kuyl of Chroma Ventures serving as chairman and Nina Santi joining as a non-executive director. Ace Aquatec develops hardware and systems for more sustainable, welfare‑focused aquaculture, including predator deterrents, an in‑water electric stunner, and 3D biomass estimation. The company has recently developed a sea‑lice removal system in partnership with a local salmon farm and is working on new lice detection and fish‑monitoring projects. It also has renewable barge projects underway and is increasing the scale and number of R&D initiatives. Ace Aquatec operates a rental fleet of equipment to serve domestic and international customers and plans to expand that stock. The company has won two Queen’s Awards for innovation and industry prizes such as the Aqua Nor and GOAL Innovation Awards. Management is pursuing an ambitious recruitment drive and new academic and industrial partnerships to validate systems in the field.

Led · Equity · Sep 2017

SoftIron designs task-specific, scale-out data center appliances optimized for open-source software, targeting both hyperscale and SMB data centers. Its hardware is designed, developed and assembled in California and is built to maximize metrics such as density, efficiency, capacity, speed and heat emission. The company recently added HyperSwitch™, a next-generation top-of-rack switch designed to maximize the performance and flexibility of SONiC. Leadership includes co-founders and executives Phil Straw (CEO), Mark Chen and Norman Fraser, with Harry Richardson as CSO. SoftIron plans to expand sales, product marketing and support while strengthening engineering to grow its appliance portfolio based on leading open source solutions. The company raised external funding to support geographic expansion across North America, Europe and the APAC region. SoftIron designs, builds and supports HyperDrive, an enterprise data storage solution with transparent, upfront pricing that interoperates with any other solution running Ceph. The company offers a 90-day HyperDrive trial cluster providing 192TB raw capacity in 5U, four storage nodes, a combined monitor and administrator node (expandable for production scale-out), and 10GBaseT networking. The trial includes consultation with a SoftIron storage expert and hardware and software technical support. SoftIron positions HyperDrive as a zero-risk enterprise data storage offering. The company is led by CEO Tim Massey and is based in London, UK and Newark, California. Financially, SoftIron completed a $7m funding round reported in November 2017.