OptoScale
Founded 2015 · 69 employees on LinkedIn · 3 known investors
OptoScale builds an underwater camera system (Bioskop 3.0) and analytics portal that provides real-time measurements of fish weight, sea lice, health, behavior, and feeding for salmon aquaculture operators. The platform offers modular monitoring with API integration to help fish farming teams track fish welfare, cut costs, and optimize production.
Also known as Optoscale AS
Investors · 3
Also in the syndicate · 2
Company profile
researched Aug 2026OptoScale is a Trondheim, Norway-based precision aquaculture company that supplies an underwater camera unit, the Bioscope (current generation Bioscope 3.0), together with a web portal for salmon farmers. The system combines 3D underwater imaging, computer vision and sensor data to produce continuous measurements of fish weight and biomass, sea lice counts, health indicators such as wound development and quality distribution, behaviour parameters including activity, swimming speed, respiration rate and tilt, and feeding response with pellet detection. Customers select the modules they need, and the measurements are consolidated in a single portal offering graphs, trends, high-resolution images for self-inspection, harvest estimates, quality and weight reporting, and data export to Excel or CSV.
The hardware is designed for plug-and-play deployment: units start transmitting data on immersion, can be moved between pens, and include a smart winch and self-cleaning lens for stable operation at sea. Data processing runs on the device using edge computing, so measurements continue without a stable network connection and are uploaded automatically when connectivity returns. The company states a unit can deliver up to 60,000 approved measurements per day, and reported mass measurements accurate within 3%, enabling assessment of up to 200,000 fish per day versus 50-100 with manual sampling. Open APIs allow integration with customers' own analytics and management systems.
The organisation is structured into software, hardware, workshop, AI & optics, customer support and leadership teams, drawing on backgrounds in physics, mathematics, cybernetics, marine technology, biology and aquaculture. The company references Trondheim's marine technology ecosystem, including NTNU and SINTEF, as the base for its research and development.
Founding story
The company was founded in 2015 by CoFounder, a Norwegian startup studio. The idea came from Sven Kolstø, who, after spending time in the aquaculture segment, observed that many critical operational decisions were made on limited and inaccessible data. The CoFounder team built the foundation for a company to address biomass insight in salmon aquaculture, and Kolstø became CEO.
Business model
OptoScale leases its Bioscope hardware units to fish farms and charges for a software subscription, a model its CEO describes as hardware-as-a-service. The company supplies and maintains an up-to-date functioning unit and handles software updates and faulty-unit replacement, leaving customers responsible only for moving the unit and cleaning the lens. Monitoring is sold as modules (weight, lice, health, behaviour, feeding) accessed through the web portal, with API access for integration.
Recurring software subscription revenue tied to leased hardware units rather than outright equipment sales; the company said it aims to have 2,000 units in operation with customers by 2027.
Traction
Operations in seven countries and seven years of service delivery as stated by the company; a workforce of about 20 at the time of the 2021 venture round, which the company planned to double over two to three years; a stated target of 2,000 units in operation with customers by 2027; customer references including Lerøy Aurora.
Latest developments
OptoScale has launched a behaviour module that alerts users when respiration rate, swimming speed and tilt change, and has expanded its feeding focus with the addition of Sigrid Venås to connect real-time data more closely to feeding work. Hege Øverlie has been appointed product manager responsible for smolt and land-based farming. Bioscope 3.0, with high image quality, a smart winch, self-cleaning lens and environmental data, is the current hardware generation. SWEN Capital Partners lists an exit from its OptoScale investment in May 2025.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Described by its founding startup studio as one of the world's leading suppliers of underwater cameras for aquaculture, and by its investor SWEN Capital Partners as a pioneer in precision aquaculture, a segment estimated at roughly 12% adoption in the salmon industry. The company positions its edge-computing architecture and hardware-as-a-service leasing model as differentiators against competing aquaculture monitoring platforms.
On-device edge processing rather than cloud-based analysis, allowing operation at remote sites with weak connectivity; plug-and-play installation and portability between pens; leasing rather than equipment sale, which addresses farmer scepticism after past purchases of technology that went unused; high measurement volume (up to 60,000 approved measurements per unit per day) and stated 3% mass accuracy; open APIs for integration.
Technology
Underwater 3D imaging system and computer vision algorithms, developed by an in-house AI & optics team, estimate weight, monitor welfare indicators and count sea lice. Artificial intelligence and software layered on the original sensor and optics stack extend the system to disease detection and lice counting without removing fish from the water. Edge computing places advanced data processing inside the Bioscope so image and sensor data are analysed where they are collected, removing dependence on high-speed connectivity and cloud servers. Model quality is tracked against manual image annotation, harvest results, manual fish sampling for lice counts and repeatability measures. Open APIs expose the resulting data.
Go-to-market
Direct sales to fish farming operators, with demo bookings via the website, dedicated customer contacts and professional follow-up from a support team staffed by people with aquaculture backgrounds. Fast installation is used as a commercial argument: the company cites a Scottish customer that had a unit running in 15 minutes.
Salmon farming companies operating sea pens, plus a stated expansion into smolt and land-based production; longer term the company has cited interest from farmers of tilapia, sea bream, sea bass and carp. Named customer reference: Lerøy Aurora.
Geography
Headquartered in Trondheim, Norway. At the time of its 2021 venture round the company operated in Norway, Canada and the UK, with Australia, Chile and Iceland named as expansion priorities. The company states it operates in seven countries.
History
Founded in 2015 in Trondheim, OptoScale began by offering sensor and optics technology that let salmon farmers gauge fish mass without weighing scales. Its technology subsequently incorporated artificial intelligence and software to add welfare insights such as disease detection and lice counting. CoFounder supported the company with capital across several rounds. In September 2021 the company raised its first venture round, $4.1 million led by SWEN Capital Partners' Blue Ocean fund with Skagerak Maturo participating, six years after launch and after a deliberate period of proving stability before taking venture capital. SWEN Capital Partners records an exit from the investment in May 2025. The product line has since reached Bioscope 3.0, and the company has added behaviour and feeding modules and appointed product leadership for smolt and land-based farming.
Risks & controversies
The company has said it intends to solidify its position in salmon before expanding to other species such as tilapia, sea bream, sea bass and carp, indicating current concentration in a single species and a small number of salmon-farming geographies.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 6
launches, deals, and filingsSWEN Capital Partners' investment page lists an acquisition date of September 2021 and an exit in May 2025 for its SWEN Blue Ocean holding in OptoScale.
OptoScale appointed Hege Øverlie as product manager with responsibility for smolt and land-based aquaculture as part of a push into pre-sea production.
Sigrid Venås joined OptoScale as the company strengthened its work on feeding, aiming to connect real-time data more closely to feeding operations.
OptoScale introduced a behaviour module that notifies users when key indicators such as respiration rate, swimming speed and tilt change.
Following its venture round, OptoScale said it would use funding to enter new markets, prioritising Australia, Chile and Iceland, adding to existing operations in Norway, Canada and the UK.
Norwegian fish-farm monitoring startup raised $4.1 million in its first venture round, led by the Blue Ocean marine impact fund managed by SWEN Capital Partners, with Skagerak Maturo participating. Proceeds earmarked for expansion into Australia, Chile and Iceland and for doubling the 20-person team.
$4.1M source ↗
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- OptoScaleoptoscale.no · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does OptoScale do?
- Norwegian precision-aquaculture company whose underwater camera system measures salmon weight, lice, health, behaviour and feeding in real time.
- Who are OptoScale's investors?
- OptoScale's investors include Skagerak Capital.