Qtrace

What Qtrace does

Qtrace is a Cambridge, UK-based private company (founded 2022) that has built the Qtrace Platform, a cloud-based AI-powered seafood quality control system. The platform applies image recognition and machine learning to assess seafood quality at each stage of the cold chain, addressing a market problem in which 61% of UK seafood waste is generated in the supply chain due to inconsistent quality control standards. Its product consists of three integrated modules — Report View (complete quality reports in under one minute), Report Page (overview dashboard of all submitted reports), and Image Labeling (manual tagging tool for seafood images) — accessed via a web-based portal at platform.qtrace.co.uk.

The underlying technology stack combines computer vision and machine learning models trained on seafood-specific data drawn from collaborations with industry partners handling more than 200 products. Qtrace operates as a B2B vertical SaaS business, targeting seafood producers and buyers with a freemium/free-demo entry point and an enterprise sales-led go-to-market motion. It partners with Imperial College London (academic research), UK Research and Innovation (UK government support), Amazon Web Services (cloud infrastructure), and Huawei (technology/hardware). The company has not disclosed pricing tiers, paying customer logos, revenue figures, or external funding rounds.

The founding team comprises Joan Gimbernat (Co-founder & COO/CEO), Ruben Ruiz-Mateos (Co-founder & CTO, PhD in Electronic and Photonic Systems), Joao Pereira (Co-founder & CPO, PhD in Deep Learning & Neurodata Science), Júlia Gimbernat, and Inés de Vilallonga. The company is privately held and founder-owned with 1-10 employees and no disclosed institutional investment.

Name

Qtrace

Legal name

Qtrace

Website

https://qtrace.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Qtrace is a Cambridge, UK-based private company that operates an AI-powered computer vision platform for seafood quality assessment across the cold chain, serving UK seafood producers and buyers to reduce supply chain waste.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Seafood Quality Control Software

NAICS

Seafood Product Preparation and Packaging (311710), Seafood Product Preparation and Packaging (31171)

SIC

Prepared Fresh Or Frozen Fish & Seafoods (2092), Food And Kindred Products (2000)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYAFALALAB

Supplier Quality Assurance & Vendor Approval Programs

Agriculture & Food Production/Food Safety, Testing & Certification/Food Quality Assurance Systems

SECONDARYAFALAAAL

Food Quality Assurance (QA) Programs & Supplier Quality Management

Agriculture & Food Production/Food Safety, Testing & Certification/Food Testing Laboratories (Microbiological, Chemical, Allergen)

Keywords

• Seafood quality control
• AI image recognition
• Cold chain assessment
• Food waste reduction
• Supply chain traceability

Headquarters

HQ city

Cambridge

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Platform SaaS: Cloud-based quality control platform subscription model providing seafood suppliers and buyers access to AI-powered image recognition and reporting capabilities.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Qtrace offers a cloud-based SaaS platform that uses AI-powered image recognition and machine learning to assess seafood quality at each stage of the cold chain. The platform enables seafood producers and buyers to submit reports, view comprehensive quality assessments with visual documentation, and make real-time decisions to reduce food and plastic packaging waste from rejections.

Product overview

Qtrace offers the Qtrace Platform as its core unified product—a seafood quality control system that combines AI-powered image recognition and machine learning to assess seafood quality throughout the cold chain. The platform comprises several integrated modules: Report View for detailed quality report generation and visualization, Report Page for managing report overviews and container submissions, and Image Labeling for manual product image categorization. The platform enables real-time quality decision-making for seafood producers and buyers, helping reduce food and plastic packaging waste from rejections.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Qtrace Platform Cloud-based SaaS platform leveraging AI, image recognition, and machine learning to assess seafood quality throughout the cold chain. Designed for seafood producers, suppliers, and buyers to streamline quality control processes, generate actionable reports in under one minute, and reduce rejections and waste.

Quantifiable outcome

• Complete quality control reports generated in less than 1 minute
• +3 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Imperial College LondoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic research partnership providing credibility and R&D support for AI and machine learning development in seafood quality assessment. Imperial College London is a world-renowned research institution in engineering and technology.
• UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUK government research and innovation body providing funding and institutional support for Qtrace's technology development in the seafood quality assessment domain.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves2 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Clarifruit: Israel-based AI quality-control platform for fresh produce using computer vision and mobile capture. The closest analog to Qtrace in offering (AI-driven QC for fresh protein/produce) and target buyer (producers and buyers), differing primarily in vertical — fruit rather than seafood.
• Inspecto: Israel-based AI food-safety inspection company that detects contamination and quality issues across the food chain. Directly comparable in applying AI/computer vision to the food-quality problem Qtrace addresses, focused upstream in the supply chain rather than at retailers.
• SafetyChain Software: Cloud-based food safety and quality management platform used by food manufacturers and processors. Targets the same buyer-side need — QA documentation, supplier verification, audit readiness — as Qtrace, but as a workflow platform rather than an image-recognition tool.

Broad incumbents

• TOMRA: Global sensor-based sorting and grading company with deep food-industry footprint and increasing AI/vision capability across seafood and protein. A scaled incumbent that overlaps with Qtrace's cold-chain QC wedge and could acquire or compete with it.
• Bühler Group: Swiss food-processing technology group with optical sorting and inspection lines used across grain, protein, and feed processors. Provides incumbent relationships and installed-base advantages for any cold-chain QC capability Qtrace aims to commercialize.
• Key Technology (Duravant): Manufacturer of optical sorters and inspection systems for processed foods including seafood. Closely analogous in the inspection hardware layer that Qtrace's AI would either complement or partially displace.
• Eurofins Scientific: Global food-testing and product-quality services group with seafood-testing capacity. Comparable as a seafood-quality assurance provider, though via laboratory testing rather than computer-vision SaaS — a potential buyer or channel for Qtrace's platform.

Emerging players

• Winnow Solutions: UK-based AI food-waste analytics company for commercial kitchens. Adjacent in addressing food waste through software and sharing the UK regulatory tailwind, but targets kitchens rather than supply-chain QC.
• AgShift: AI-based food quality and grading platform for fresh produce. Closely analogous offering to Qtrace's — visual-AI QC for fresh goods — but operating in produce rather than seafood, and serving as a useful cross-vertical comparable.
• XpertSea: Aquaculture-focused data and AI platform combining imaging and analytics for fish farming. Comparable as an early-stage AI-for-seafood company overlapping in the cold-chain/aquaculture data layer, though more upstream at the farm than processor/buyer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/Wix
• Facebookfacebook.com/wix
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/self-ai

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Qtrace