What OptoScale does

OptoScale is a Norwegian aquaculture technology company headquartered in Trondheim, founded in 2015 by Sven Jørund Kolstø after he experienced firsthand the difficulties of manually weighing fish at pen edges in adverse weather. The company develops and sells the Bioscope — an underwater AI camera system lowered into fish pens that photographs tens of thousands of fish daily and uses computer vision and machine learning to estimate weight, count sea lice, assess welfare indicators, and monitor fish behavior in real time. All image processing occurs locally via edge computing in the camera, enabling continuous operation at remote sites with limited connectivity. The latest Bioscope 3.0 integrates feeding monitoring with 180° pellet detection, environmental sensors (oxygen, temperature), and a self-cleaning UV lens co-developed with a Norwegian water treatment partner.

The platform is modular, with software modules for Weight, Lice, Welfare (based on the LaksVel standard tracking 13 parameters), and Behavior delivered through a common web portal and accessible via open API. Specialized Bioscope variants serve smolt/hatchery producers, rainbow trout farmers, and submerged deep-pen operations. OptoScale also integrates with Bioplan, a decision-support tool that converts real-time bioscope data into harvest timing, superior share, and capacity utilization forecasts. Revenue is generated through hardware sales/leasing of Bioscope units, recurring software module subscriptions (individually or in combination), and professional services including on-site installation, training, and customer success support.

OptoScale sells directly to enterprise aquaculture operators through a sales-led motion, with named account managers (including a dedicated rainbow trout contact), demo-request CTAs, and pilot-to-commercial sales cycles. The customer base includes most of the world's largest salmon producers — SalMar, Grieg Seafood ASA, Cermaq Chile, Cooke Aquaculture Scotland, Arctic Fish, Andfjord Salmon — plus advisory firms such as LetSea AS. Operations span seven countries (Norway, Iceland, the UK, Chile, Canada and others), with the company reporting monitoring of more than 3,000 fish pens and weighing of over 1.6 billion salmon to date.

Name

OptoScale

Legal name

OptoScale

Website

https://optoscale.no

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

OptoScale is a Norwegian aquaculture technology company that sells the Bioscope — an underwater AI camera system providing real-time, edge-processed computer vision monitoring of fish weight, sea lice counts, welfare, behavior, and feeding for salmon, trout, and smolt farm operators globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Trondheim

HQ country

Norway

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Bioscope hardware sales / leasing: OptoScale sells or leases its Bioscope underwater camera hardware to aquaculture operators. The Bioscope comes in different versions (including smolt-specific models and submerged-operation models). Hardware is installed by the OptoScale team and includes plug-and-play deployment.
2. Software modules (subscription / license): OptoScale offers four core software modules accessible through a common web portal: Weight, Lice, Welfare/Health, and Behavior. Modules can be purchased individually or in combination. The portal provides real-time analytics, trend graphs, slaughter estimates, and API access for data integration.
3. Support and customer success services: Dedicated customer success team provides onboarding, training, ongoing support, and data interpretation assistance. OptoScale staff participate in on-site installations and provide close follow-up to ensure optimal system performance.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

OptoScale sells and supports an underwater AI camera system called the Bioscope, which is lowered into fish pens or tanks to photograph tens of thousands of fish daily. Computer vision and machine learning models analyze the images to deliver real-time measurements of fish weight, sea lice counts, welfare indicators, behavior, and (in Bioscope 3.0) feeding metrics. The hardware is paired with subscription-based software modules (Weight, Lice, Welfare/Health, Behavior) accessible via a web portal and API, serving aquaculture operators including salmon sea cage farms, land-based facilities, smolt producers, and rainbow trout farms.

Product overview

OptoScale offers a modular aquaculture monitoring platform built around the Bioscope hardware system. The Bioscope is an underwater AI camera that serves as the core platform, with multiple software modules delivering specific capabilities: Weight Module for precise biomass measurement, Lice Module for automated sea lice counting, Health/Welfare Module for fish health assessment based on Laksvel standard, Behavior Module for real-time swimming and respiration monitoring, and Quality Report for harvest planning. The company has expanded into land-based and smolt production with specialized solutions, and offers Bioplan as a decision-support tool integrating real-time data with production forecasts. The latest Bioscope 3.0 combines all functions into one all-in-one camera with integrated feeding monitoring, environmental sensors, and self-cleaning technology.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Bioskop 3.0: All-in-one AI camera system for fish monitoring including weight, welfare, behavior, lice counting, and feeding monitoring with integrated environmental sensors.
• Bioplan
• LaksVel

Products and services

• Bioscope 3.0 All-in-one underwater AI camera system for aquaculture operators that simultaneously measures fish weight, welfare, behavior, lice counts, and feeding. Features plug-and-play installation, edge computing for offline operation, integrated environmental sensors, assisted feeding with pellet detection, and self-cleaning lens technology.
• Weight Module Software module providing precise fish weight data including average weight, K-factor, size distribution, growth rates, and feed conversion calculations. Delivers up to 40,000 approved measurements daily for biomass control and slaughter estimation, used by salmon farming operators.
• Lice Module Automatic sea lice counting module that detects and counts sea lice (L. salmonis and C. elongatus), distinguishes between lice stages including mature female lice, and provides daily updated figures for delousing planning. Replaces manual counting that can involve killing fish and has up to 150% margin of error.
• Health/Welfare Module Fish health monitoring module based on LaksVel standard, tracking 13 key welfare parameters including wounds, scale loss, skin bleeding, fin health, deformities, eye health, and sexual maturation. Monitors wound development over time and provides real-time health status without removing fish from water.
• Behavior Module Real-time fish behavior monitoring tracking respiration rate, swimming speed, and tilt. Provides early detection of stress, gill disease risk, and environmental changes through automatic alerts when key behavioral indicators change from baseline.
• Quality Report Harvest planning and quality prediction tool providing superior share estimates and downgrading analysis by weight class. Validated against actual harvest results to support production planning and margin optimization for salmon farms.
• Smolt Solution Specialized camera and software solution for land-based smolt (juvenile salmon) production providing real-time insight into smolt growth, weight variation, and health status. Includes a Smolt Report combining weight, growth, and welfare data, with AI models trained specifically for smolt-stage fish including detection of shortened gill lids and fin damage, validated for fish as small as ~50g.
• Live Video Real-time video streaming from fish pens enabling visual monitoring, behavior observation, and quick spot checks. Supports viewing multiple cages simultaneously from the OptoScale web portal.
• Bioplan Decision-support tool combining real-time bioscope data with production forecasts. Provides harvest timing recommendations, superior share forecasting, capacity utilization planning, and continuously updated figures for production optimization in aquaculture operations.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1.6 billion salmon weighed across more than 3,000 fish pens
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability8 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• BioplancoreTechnology or IntegrationOptoScale has integrated its Bioscope data with Bioplan, a decision-support tool that combines real-time data from the bioscope with production forecasts. Bioplan provides harvest timing forecasts, superior share predictions, and capacity utilization planning. This integration extends OptoScale's platform from monitoring to predictive decision support.
• Local water treatment technology provider (unnamed)supportingTechnology or IntegrationOptoScale collaborated with a local Norwegian technology provider specializing in water treatment to jointly develop the self-cleaning UV lens technology for the Bioscope. This partnership addressed the challenge of algae and biofouling on underwater camera lenses.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Customer concentration

• Xfacebook.com/OptoScale
• Facebookfacebook.com/OptoScale
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/optoscale

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about OptoScale