Aquasend
Aquasend provides real-time water quality monitoring hardware and cloud-based SaaS for commercial aquaculture, hatcheries, and hydroponics operations. Its optical sensors measure dissolved oxygen and temperature to prevent fish kills and optimize farm productivity.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersVista, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Aquasend does
Aquasend provides real-time water quality monitoring hardware and cloud-based software for the aquaculture industry, operating as a commercial subsidiary brand of Precision Measurement Engineering (PME). The company's core products include the Aquasend Beacon—a solar-powered, GPS-enabled buoy with optical dissolved oxygen and temperature sensors, anti-fouling design, mesh networking, and tilt/battery telemetry—and the miniDOT Clear Logger, a submersible data logger using optode fluorescence technology calibrated at 96 calibration points. Sensor data flows into a SaaS platform that offers configurable alerts (via text, email, or voice), GPS mapping, 30-day per-Beacon cloud storage, and the Plot Program tool for analyzing up to 28 data points across temperature, oxygen concentration, saturation, solar state, tilt, and battery.
The company primarily serves commercial aquaculture operations (trout, catfish, organic fish, and traditional Hawaiian fishponds), with secondary segments in hatcheries and research institutions and hydroponics/aquaponics operations. Its revenue model combines one-time hardware sales (Beacon and miniDOT units) with recurring monthly SaaS subscriptions per Beacon. Go-to-market is a direct, quote-based enterprise field-sales motion with product specialists, supported by content marketing, customer case studies, and participation in industry events including Aquaculture America and the HATCH Blue Accelerator.
Aquasend was developed in 2017 within PME's R&D labs and officially established as a brand in 2019, launching its flagship Beacon product in February 2020. Headquartered in Vista, California, with 1-10 employees, the company received its only disclosed external funding—a $300,000 pre-seed investment from HATCH Blue in October 2023. Leadership is shared with parent PME: Kristin Elliott serves as both Aquasend CEO and PME President/CEO, while Dr. Michael Head, PME's founder, serves as CTO.
Aquasend firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Aquasend
- Legal name
- Aquasend, Inc.
- Website
- https://aquasend.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Aquasend provides real-time water quality monitoring hardware and cloud-based SaaS for commercial aquaculture, hatcheries, and hydroponics operations. Its optical sensors measure dissolved oxygen and temperature to prevent fish kills and optimize farm productivity.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Aquasend industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Aquaculture Water Quality Monitoring Equipment
- NAICS
- Finfish Farming and Fish Hatcheries (112511), Other Aquaculture (112519)
- SIC
- Optical Instruments & Lenses (3827)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Aquaculture Health, Biosecurity & Veterinary Services (AFAEAAAK)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Aquaponics (Integrated Fish & Plant Production) (AFAEAAAI), Aquaculture & Fish Health Services (AFAEANAE)
Keywords
Where Aquasend is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Vista
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Aquasend business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations
Revenue model
- SaaS Subscription: Monthly subscription fee per Beacon unit providing access to real-time monitoring data and software. Includes cloud storage of all Beacon data. This is the primary recurring revenue stream.
- Hardware Sales: Sale of physical monitoring devices including the Aquasend Beacon buoy and miniDOT Clear Logger. These are one-time hardware purchases that complement the ongoing SaaS subscription.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Per-unit monthly subscription with hardware purchase |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels5 records
Aquasend product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Aquasend designs, manufactures, and sells continuous, real-time water quality monitoring solutions for aquaculture and hydroponics operations. Its core offerings are the Aquasend Beacon (a solar-powered dissolved oxygen and temperature monitoring buoy with cellular transmission and alert capabilities) and the miniDOT Clear Logger (a submersible optical DO/temperature data logger), bundled with a cloud-based SaaS portal that delivers alerts, GPS mapping, and analytics such as the Plot Program to commercial fish farms, hatcheries, and research customers.
Product overview
Aquasend provides water quality monitoring solutions for aquaculture and hydroponics operations. The product portfolio consists of two core hardware products—the Aquasend Beacon (real-time monitoring buoy with solar power, GPS, mesh networking, and cellular/radio connectivity) and the miniDOT Clear Logger (submersible data logger with LCD display and SD card storage)—along with a SaaS platform that aggregates data, provides customizable alerts, and offers mobile/desktop access to historical data and reporting.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Aquasend Beacon A solar-powered, real-time water quality monitoring buoy designed for outdoor aquaculture ponds, tanks, and raceways. Measures dissolved oxygen (via optical optode sensor) and temperature, transmits data to a cloud portal, and sends text, email, or voice alerts when levels cross user-defined thresholds. Includes GPS, tilt sensor, anti-fouling coating, LED status lights, and mesh networking for multi-pond deployments.
- miniDOT Clear Logger A completely submersible data logger that measures and records dissolved oxygen and temperature in real time, with an internal LCD screen for live readings. Uses an optical DO sensor based on the fluorescence method, records data to an internal SD card with user-configurable sampling from once per minute to once per hour, and is calibrated at 96 calibration points across 12 oxygen concentrations and 8 temperatures. Sold as a standalone logger for hatcheries, research, and aquaculture applications.
- Aquasend SaaS (Client Portal / Cloud Platform) Cloud-based software platform connecting to the Aquasend Beacon that delivers real-time data monitoring, GPS mapping, customizable alerts (temperature, oxygen concentration, oxygen saturation, battery voltage and more), 30-day cloud data storage per Beacon, and the Plot Program for analyzing up to 28 data points across long-term trends. Sold as a per-Beacon monthly subscription and accessible from desktop or mobile devices.
Quantifiable outcome
- Prevented fish kill at Kent SeaTech when DO dropped to 0.08mg/L and spiked to 20mg/L
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Aquasend
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Aquasend technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Aquasend partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- HATCH BluecoreAquasend was selected for the HATCH Blue Accelerator 6.0 program, an international masterclass connecting sustainable seafood companies with industry experts, investors, and farmers through visits in Norway, Hawaii, Vietnam, and Singapore.
- Xylem Innovation LabsminorAquasend partnered with Xylem Innovation Labs' Incubator Program to deploy three Beacons in Waikalua Loko I'a, a 400-year-old Hawaiian fishpond. This partnership supports the Pacific American Foundation's restoration efforts.
- Professional Aquaculture ServicesminorTony Vaught, Owner of Professional Aquaculture Services and President of CA Aquaculture Association, serves as an advisor. He brings decades of aquaculture supplier and farmer experience to Aquasend's strategy.
- Precision Measurement Engineering (PME)coreAquasend is an enterprise of PME and was developed in 2017 from PME's R&D labs. PME has 40+ years of water quality sensor experience and developed the core optode technology used in Aquasend products.
Scale indicators8 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights7 records
Aquasend competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- OxyGuard: Specialist in dissolved oxygen and water quality measurement for aquaculture, offering handheld and fixed DO meters used by fish farmers globally. OxyGuard is one of the most direct competitors to Aquasend's Beacon and miniDOT products in the aquaculture-specific DO monitoring niche.
- Steinsvik (ScaleAQ): Norwegian aquaculture technology supplier offering sensors, feeding systems, and software to salmon and other aquaculture operators, with strong presence in Northern Europe. Directly comparable to Aquasend in target customer (aquaculture farmers) and product category (water quality monitoring and farm management).
- Innovasea: Provider of aquaculture technology including real-time fish monitoring, environmental sensors, and farm management software. Innovasea directly competes with Aquasend in delivering integrated sensing-plus-software solutions to commercial fish farms, particularly in salmon and other finfish segments.
- Aanderaa Data Instruments: Specialist in oceanographic and water quality sensors, including optical dissolved oxygen sensors with a long heritage in research-grade instruments. Aanderaa's optode technology is technologically adjacent to Aquasend's PME-developed sensors and serves overlapping research and aquaculture customers.
- AKVA Group / Bluegrove: Major aquaculture technology supplier providing sensors, feeding systems, and software to salmon and other finfish farms worldwide. Bluegrove (formerly AKVA) integrates water quality monitoring with broader farm management, making it a direct competitor at the integrated-software-plus-sensor layer.
Emerging players
- Sensorex: Manufacturer of water quality sensors and probes for industrial, environmental, and aquaculture applications. Sensorex offers DO and temperature sensors that overlap with Aquasend's core sensing technology, though Aquasend differentiates via its integrated buoy-plus-SaaS solution.
- Atlas Scientific: Developer of water quality sensing probes and OEM modules for dissolved oxygen, pH, and other parameters. Atlas Scientific competes in adjacent hydroponics/aquaponics and aquarium markets where Aquasend also plays, offering more component-level products versus Aquasend's turnkey buoy.
Broad incumbents
- Xylem: Global water technology giant offering a broad portfolio of water quality monitoring instruments, analytics, and treatment systems. Xylem is both a competitor in DO/water-quality sensing and an existing partner of Aquasend via Xylem Innovation Labs, representing the scaled incumbent Aquasend must contend with in enterprise aquaculture accounts.
- Hach (Danaher): A leading manufacturer of water quality analysis instruments and sensors used across municipal, industrial, and environmental applications. Comparable to Aquasend in delivering DO and temperature measurement, but serves a much broader customer base with deeper institutional budgets and global service networks.
- Pentair: Diversified water solutions provider serving aquaculture and aquaculture-adjacent markets with aeration, filtration, and monitoring equipment. Comparable to Aquasend in delivering hardware to aquaculture operators, but at significantly larger scale and through established distribution.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Aquasend social profiles
Digital presenceAquasend financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Aquasend leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Aquasend funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Aquasend M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Aquasend
What does Aquasend do?
Aquasend designs, manufactures, and sells continuous, real-time water quality monitoring solutions for aquaculture and hydroponics operations. Its core offerings are the Aquasend Beacon (a solar-powered dissolved oxygen and temperature monitoring buoy with cellular transmission and alert capabilities) and the miniDOT Clear Logger (a submersible optical DO/temperature data logger), bundled with a cloud-based SaaS portal that delivers alerts, GPS mapping, and analytics such as the Plot Program to commercial fish farms, hatcheries, and research customers.
Is Aquasend a public or private company?
Aquasend is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Aquasend founded?
Aquasend was founded in 2017. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Aquasend based?
Aquasend is headquartered in Vista, United States, in the North America region.
How does Aquasend make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. SaaS Subscription is the primary driver. The others are hardware Sales.
Who are Aquasend's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are OxyGuard, Steinsvik (ScaleAQ), Innovasea, Aanderaa Data Instruments and AKVA Group / Bluegrove. Emerging players are Sensorex and Atlas Scientific. Broad incumbents are Xylem, Hach (Danaher) and Pentair.
Does Aquasend have an API?
No public API is recorded for Aquasend.
What industry is Aquasend in?
Aquasend's product category is Aquaculture Water Quality Monitoring Equipment. Its primary akta.pro industry code is AFAEAAAK, Aquaculture Health, Biosecurity & Veterinary Services, with a secondary code of AFAEAAAI, Aquaponics (Integrated Fish & Plant Production). Its NAICS code is 112511 and its SIC code is 3827.