Nekkar and Bewi Invest have sold FiiZK Digital to Bluefront Equity as part of a restructuring of the larger group of FiiZK companies.
Trondheim, Norway-based FiiZK includes a suite of firms engaged in aquaculture technology development and implementation.
Nekkar, a Norwegian industrial technology firm, and investment group Bewi Invest acquired 80 percent of FiiZK in August 2023, with Nekkar paying NOK 50 million (USD 4.7 million, EUR 4.4 million) for a 39 percent share of the firm and Bewi Invest – which bought a 44 percent stake in SinkabergHansen in April 2023 – paying NOK 25 million (USD 2.3 million, EUR 2.2 million) for a 41 percent share.
In September 2023, five of FiiZK's subsidiaries declared bankruptcy, including FiiZK Closed Systems, FiiZK Ecomerden, FiiZK Group, FiiZK Holding, and FiiZK Operational Services, with a combined EUR 41 million (USD 44 million) in debt, as part of a streamlining of the company under the banner of FiiZK Topco to focus on unconventional farming methods, such as closed and semi-closed cages for fish farming.
As the next step of that reorganization, Nekkar and Bewi Invest decided to sell FiiZK Digital, which is headquartered in Trondheim, Norway, with an additional office in Ålesund, Norway. The company has 20 employees engaged in developing and operating digital solutions to optimize production for fish farmers of all sizes in Norway and internationally.
“As the FiiZK Group wanted to focus [its] efforts on closed and semi-closed fish cages and Bluefront is already heavily invested in suppliers of digital solutions, this transaction suited all parties,” FiiZK Digital Co-Founder and Managing Director Torbjørn Skjetne said in a press release. “The employees in FiiZK Digital are positive to our new owners, and we look forward to developing a streamlined digital solution provider to the seafood industry together with Bluefront.”
Terms of the transaction were not released. After the transaction is completed, FiiZK Digital will be renamed, according to FiiZK Managing Director Jan Erik Kvingedal, who assumed his position in February 2024.
“The sale of FiiZK Digital strengthens FiiZK’s balance sheet and frees up resources that can be used to develop the company’s core business,” FiiZK Chairman and Nekkar CEO Ole Falk Hansen said.
Hansen said FiiZK will now focus on the sale of closed and semi-closed fish cages, with associated software, maintenance, and services. To date, FiiZK has delivered more than 20 cages and completed more than 70 production cycles, “demonstrating strong fish growth and no problems with lice and escapes,” the company said. It recently developed a new closed cage design called Protectus, based off updates made to its previous Certus, Ecomerden, and Starfish models. The company also recently launched FiiZK FlekZii Cage, a semi-closed cage designed to reduce lice infestation. FiiZK will also maintain its portfolio of technical textiles, which include lice skirts and treatment tarps.
Bluefront Equity, a Norwegian private equity fund founded in 2020 by Kjetil Haga and Simen Landmark, has made several acquisitions as part of its focus on small- and medium-sized suppliers in the sustainable seafood value chain.
Bluefront launched Bluefront Capital II, its second fund, in April 2024, with the goal of investing in companies offering services and technologies aiming to improve ocean health, biodiversity, and animal welfare. Haga said more than 40 percent of the salmon produced in Norway is currently supported by FiiZK Digital’s solutions.
“This is a fantastic starting point to further develop the company,” Haga said. “We will streamline the business and contribute with new equity that will enable the company to develop even better and more holistic solutions that will make fish farmers’ operations more efficient, sustainable, and profitable.”
The move to inject a substantial amount of equity into FiiZK Digital will strengthen the company’s balance sheet and provide growth capital to facilitate further expansion in both Norway and abroad, according to Landmark.
“Optimizing production through data-driven decision-making enables fish farmers to enhance sustainable food systems by improving efficiency, reducing mortality, and promoting better fish welfare,” he said.
Torbjørn Skjetne and Magne Johnsen, FiiZK Digital’s original founders, will remain on the company’s board and will be joined by newly elected chairman Olav Jamtøy, the chairman of Bluefront-owned Spillfree Analytics, and Haga and Bluefront’s Johan Kostveit.
After all transactions have been completed, Bluefront will own approximately 90 percent of the shares, with the remainder owned by Skjetne, Johnsen, and Jamtøy.
