Cuna del Mar’s InnovaSea Systems acquires Amirix Systems

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By Ted Liu

InnovaSea Systems, Inc., a portfolio company of family office Cuna del Mar, has acquired Amirix Systems, the parent company of Bedford, Nova Scotia based Vemco and Realtime Aquaculture and Seattle, Washington based HTI-Vemco.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Vemco and HTI-Vemco are leaders in fish tracking and monitoring solutions for fisheries researchers worldwide while Realtime Aquaculture specializes in real time environmental monitoring of fish farms. Both product lines are based on using acoustic telemetry to communicate wirelessly under water.

InnovaSea Systems is majority owned Cuna del Mar. InnovaSea was formed on January 1, 2015 with the merger of two of Cuna de Mar’s portfolio companies, OceanSpar and Ocean Farm Technologies. InnovaSea is developing a fully integrated open-ocean farming platform. Cuna del Mar injected additional US $15 million in InnovaSea in April 2017.

Cuna del Mar is a family office with a long-range view addressing the Grand Challenge of food security and ocean conservancy by discovering ways to feed our population and honor the planet simultaneously. Cuna del Mar is led by Robert Orr, formerly co-founder, CEO and Chairman of Ocean Nutrition Canada Limited, acquired by Royal DSM N.V. for $540 million in 2012.

InnovaSea Systems CEO and CTO David Kelly stated, “Amirix Systems has been a pioneer in low power underwater acoustic telemetry with its fish tracking technology and wireless environmental monitoring solutions. The combination of InnovaSea’s aquaculture instrumentation with Amirix’s sensors, architecture and established products will provide a complete integrated solution for monitoring aquaculture farms.”

Combining with InnovaSea Systems is a logical step in growing the business and expanding opportunities globally. As stated by Amirix CEO Mark Jollymore “Given our strong reputation in fish-tracking technology and our recent expansion into the aquaculture marketplace, InnovaSea is a natural partner for us. It’s evident to us that InnovaSea values and recognizes the expertise of our people and the world-class quality of our production facility right here in Nova Scotia.”

Robert Orr commented, “I look forward to what the companies’ combined resources can bring to our quest to advance ocean conservancy and food security. With the addition of Amirix, we can accelerate our development of sustainable offshore aquaculture systems and simultaneously support the research and understanding of wild fish populations.”

photo credit: InnovaSea Systems