Changing how seafood reaches your plate

Eirik Talhaug, previously employed at a large salmon‑farming company, explains that the trading process for seafood can be frustrating and inefficient.

Huge quantities of salmon are bought and sold via a patchwork of calls, emails and Skype chats. Important details can easily be missed in this deluge of information.

Now, Eirik and his colleagues at JET Seafood want to move this process into the twenty‑first century.

Eirik Talhaug (pictured), founder of JET Seafood.

Connecting people

The company is developing a platform, SeafoodPortal.com, which will represent a new way for the seafood industry to do business.

The idea is to bring seafood buyers and sellers together in an online marketplace, where information on prices and trade volumes will be easily available.

Eirik is clear about the benefits of the platform: “Companies will get an overview of what’s actually being traded – real facts and figures, rather than gossip.”

“This will make things more efficient and more transparent for seafood businesses around the world.”

The “one-stop-shop” platform will also help aquaculture companies with other common activities such as logistics and credit insurance.

Local support

Eirik believes SeafoodPortal could be ready to go live as early as spring 2019.

Simply getting to this point has been an exciting journey indeed for the technology startup.

“Things really got going earlier this year when we entered the Angel Challenge Bergen, a local accelerator program,” he explains.

“We were lucky enough to win the Angel Challenge, and walked away with a convertible loan worth 800,000 NOK.”

Eirik and his colleagues received another boost when they were given the chance to move into Bergen’s Nyskapingsparken incubator.

“The help we’ve received here is invaluable – there’s a lot of knowledge within these four walls.”

Eirik and his staff have enjoyed working at Bergen’s Nyskapingsparken startup hub.

Coming soon

SeafoodPortal.com will originally be available across Europe, yet Eirik’s ambition is to open up the platform to the whole world.

He believes that fish will play a vital part in feeding the earth’s growing population in future.

“Most of the protein that we eat comes from land-based production, while oceans cover most of the planet.”

“If we are going to meet the world’s increasing need for protein, then seafood needs to play a leading role.”

When it comes to his own role, however, Eirik is more modest. “What we’re doing is trying to connect the buyers and sellers.”

“It’s the people who are out there raising the fish who deserve the praise.”
 

Find out more about Bergen's aquaculture industry

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