Aquaculture tech company raises $1.3m in seed capital

XpertSea, a Canadian aquaculture-focused technology company, has raised $1.3 million in seed funding from Real Ventures, one of Canada’s largest and most active seed capital funds.

The company provides inventory management technology for aquaculture producers. Its star product, XperCount, is a mechanism that can count tiny aquatic organisms in a shorter timespan than traditional methods.

Real Ventures has made 81 investments in 63 companies since it was founded in September 2010, according to the company’s profile on CrunchBase. The fund has raised $120 million to date.

Aquaculture has been gathering attention from the investment community in recent months as production is predicted to reach 181 million tonnes by 2022, according to a report by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Seven Funds, a US hybrid venture capital and private equity firm, focuses on the aquaculture and sustainable food sectors and started raising capital for its food brand Healthy Earth earlier this year, which will focus on the seafood sector at first.

XpertSea’s target market includes aquariums and large seafood cultivators, Agri Investor learned. The company aims to provide a solution to accurately and consistently cultivate and distribute aquatic organisms.