2024.11.04
- Investment attraction stage: Pre-Series A
- Investment Attraction Amount: 1 billion won
- Desired investment attraction period: 4th quarter of 2024
If it is possible to mass-produce marine products grown in the ocean on land, it can be a great business opportunity in many ways. In particular, Korea is a large market that competes with Japan for the world's first or second largest seafood consumption per capita, and the demand for aquaculture products is increasing, and this year, there was news that aquaculture products worldwide exceeded wild catches .
There is a startup that is proactively preparing for and commercializing this era of aquaculture. It is the Korea Fisheries Research & Development Institute . The Korea Fisheries Research & Development Institute is a company founded in 2019 by CEO Kim Min-su with the goal of aquaculture on land. The company is currently developing and supplying a land-based smart aquaculture farm called ‘Pickle House (FiCl House)’ targeting shrimp aquaculture among aquaculture products.
Why did you choose shrimp among the many seafood? CEO Kim Min-su explains as follows. First, shrimp is a species with high global demand. The global shrimp market is worth about 43 billion dollars, and more than half of that, about 26 billion dollars, is consumed in Asia. The Korean market is also a very large market, worth 1.3 trillion won. However, 90% of the domestic shrimp market is imported, so the localization rate is very low. That is why the demand for domestic shrimp can be high. In addition, shrimp fry are only worth 10 won each, but after 4 months of farming, they can be sold for 1,000 won when they become adults, creating a large high value-added market. It is an attractive market in many ways.
However, is shrimp farming, which is not easy even in the ocean, possible on land? Disease, pollution, and water quality management are very important when cultivating shrimp and other aquatic products on land. This is where the competitiveness of the Korea Fisheries Research & Development Institute comes into play. CEO Kim Min-su confidently states, “Previously, in order to manage polluted water, 2 to 10 tons of water and about 2 weeks were needed per ton of polluted water. However, we can purify this in 30 minutes with about 0.3 tons of water.” With this technology, the Korea Fisheries Research & Development Institute stated, “It is possible to operate with only 70% of the investment cost compared to existing land-based farming.”
All of the key members of the Korea Fisheries Research & Development Institute, including CEO Kim Min-su, have qualifications as fish disease management specialists. Regarding this, CEO Kim expressed his technical skills by saying, “We are all fish doctors.” Perhaps this technical skill is what led to the above results.
Pickle House is also made easy in terms of management. When you access the management screen through the Pickle Manager app, you are given a 'to-do list' every day in the form of a daily quest. If you faithfully complete this, you can run a successful farm.
What is the productivity level? Shrimp farming in Pickle House can be done in about 4 months, and the production yield is more than 6kg per 1m³. This figure far exceeds the 1kg/m³ of S, a world-class marine shrimp farming company in Ecuador, or the 2kg/m³ of N, a land-based shrimp farming company in the US. In addition, CEO Kim emphasized that since most imported shrimp are only 15g, much smaller than domestic shrimp (40g), they can be farmed multiple times at a fast pace, which also secures price competitiveness with imported shrimp.
The Korea Fisheries Research & Development Institute has currently opened pickle houses in Chuncheon, Gangwon-do and Yeongju, Gyeongbuk, and has secured potential customers in about 77 domestic and 3 overseas locations. The challenge of the Korea Fisheries Research and Development Institute, which has walked the path of land-based aquaculture of marine products, is undoubtedly a noteworthy step in many ways.
Meanwhile, the Korea Fisheries Research & Development Institute has been selected for the ' G-Startup Youth Entrepreneurship Support Project' operated by the Gangwon Creative Economy Innovation Center and is receiving various support and nurturing. The program is a support project that aims to support the growth of startups with innovative ideas and technological capabilities in the province by providing business development funding, education, expert mentoring, and investment linkage by Gangwon Province and the Gangwon Creative Economy Innovation Center.
What problem is the Korea Institute of Fisheries Science trying to solve?
Due to recent decreases in catches and marine environmental pollution, it is becoming difficult to supply safe and fresh seafood. Therefore, we want to produce fresh and safe aquaculture seafood on land instead of the sea to create a sustainable aquaculture ecosystem.
The shrimp currently being produced are produced using traditional ocean-based aquaculture methods, but due to external factors, the disease rate is high and productivity is low, and in Korea, due to the nature of the four seasons, it is impossible to maintain the same temperature throughout the year, so most are produced once a year. In addition, since production is done using traditional methods that have been in place for a long time, production volumes fluctuate, making stable and sustainable production impossible.
So the method that is emerging now is land-based aquaculture. This method can block diseases and produce stably, but the initial investment cost is too high at present, so it is limited to one-time B2B type project-type business. In addition, it is a market centered on equipment, and it is a problem-finding solution tailored to monitoring, control, and sensing.
How do we solve this problem?
First, we want to move beyond the problem-finding and equipment-centered smart aquaculture market to a problem-solving-centered solution market. For example, our goal is to create an environment where anyone can easily farm shrimp by suggesting ways to quickly purify water when it is polluted or ways to help shrimp grow well when they are not growing well.
Second, by providing standardized land-based aquaculture farms from capital-based markets to technology-based markets, facility costs and operating costs can be reduced by more than 70%. We provide aquaculture farms that can operate stably by building a small area, faster water purification, and an expandable system.
What are our competitive and technological advantages over our competitors?
The most important things in aquaculture are water quality, growth, and disease management. The conventional method took an average of two weeks to purify polluted water, and required a filtration area 2 to 10 times larger than the polluted water. However, we can solve this problem with a filtration area of 0.3 times within 30 minutes, which significantly reduces aquaculture area, cost, and water usage.
In production management, we also provide tasks to be done every day in the form of quests through the FiCl House Manager App, a smart aquaculture farm. Since you just need to follow these, you can easily operate and manage them stably. Through this, we have completed FiCl, a smart aquaculture solution with productivity 30 times higher than traditional aquaculture farms, a survival rate of over 80%, and a success rate of 100%.
What products/services do we offer?
There are two main types of services and products we provide.
First, FiCl House is a land-based smart shrimp farm that can be farmed anywhere. It consists of 12 6m-sized circular tanks per farm module, a filtration facility, and a smart system.
Second, FiCl Manager is a software that is linked to FiCl House, and provides daily quests in the form of games that are tailored to the Farmer's Level based on data from AI's machine learning program. If users simply perform 'Today's Tasks' well through Pickle Manager, they can produce shrimp stably.
We have completed the POC verification of an advanced model in Chuncheon, and are preparing a commercialization model and showroom for Korea's first land-based shrimp farm in Yeongju, Gyeongbuk.
What is the market size that our product is targeting and who are the key targets?
The global shrimp market is worth about $4.367 billion, growing at a CAGR of 6.6%, with an annual production of 5.5 million tons. Of this, about 3.9 million tons, or 71%, is produced in Asia, accounting for about $2.656 billion.
In Korea, the market size is about 1.3 trillion won, and the annual shrimp consumption is about 110,000 tons. However, only 10% of this is produced domestically, and 90% is entirely dependent on imported shrimp. Korea’s shrimp import volume is ranked 6th in the world, making it a market with a high dependence on imports.
The initial entry market is the domestic live fish market (approximately KRW 168 billion) with a significant shortage of domestic production concentrated in the fall, and we aim to produce and distribute live fish throughout the entire cycle and transform the frozen import market, which is 90% dependent on imports, into the domestic/fresh market.
Our core target is to connect local buyers and consumers through local production/local consumption by expanding land-based aquaculture farms, thereby continuously providing a variety of shrimp types and desired quantities.
What is our business model?
The business model is simple. We develop Spot, a land-based smart shrimp farm, and then distribute the shrimp produced on consignment. Profits are generated from the following three models.
First, there is the development profit generated while developing the farm.
Second, it is a business that supplies feed, fry, water purifiers, etc. needed to run aquaculture farms.
Lastly, there is the profit generated by distributing consignment/directly produced shrimp.
What have the Korea Fisheries Research & Development Institute team achieved so far?
We are already operating two direct farms (Chuncheon, Gyeongbuk Yeongju) and have attracted initial investment of over 1.1 billion won. In addition, we have secured 3 domestic customers and over 77 potential customers, and 3 potential customers overseas.
We have proven our technological prowess through four patents and verification of land-based farming, and are increasing sales by signing contracts with seven distribution buyers.
What are our team's competitive advantages?
Our team is a specialized aquaculture company with more than 50% of its staff being aquaculture experts, including the CEO, who holds a license for aquaculture disease management. In particular, CEO Kim Min-su has over 10 years of experience in aquaculture, and with his field experience and expertise, he is working to produce a better aquaculture environment and sustainable, safe aquatic products.
In addition, based on our expert members who have abundant knowledge and experience in aquatic diseases, we are creating a synergy effect by blocking diseases in advance and managing water quality optimized for aquaculture.
Starting this year, we are accelerating the expansion of our distribution chain by joining key members with over 20 years of experience in agricultural and marine product distribution in order to enter the market in earnest.
3 Reasons Why We Should Invest!
First, the land-based aquaculture market is growing rapidly at a time when the paradigm shift is taking place from ocean-based to land-based aquaculture. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15.7% from $4.3 billion in 2022 to $16 billion in 2031.
Second, as a leading land-based smart aquaculture company, we have experience in attracting seed investment of over 1 billion won, and we have the technology to easily achieve BEP, such as a dramatic reduction in purification time (2 weeks to 30 minutes) and reduction in investment costs (70% reduction).
Third, the white shrimp market is a huge market, and if you have the technology, you can sell shrimp for 10 won per shrimp for 1,000 won per shrimp in just 4 months. You will be able to monopolize the domestic market, which is in a state of supply shortage.
WOW TALE Dacos
View the Full Article Text
2024.11.04
If it is possible to mass-produce marine products grown in the ocean on land, it can be a great business opportunity in many ways. In particular, Korea is a large market that competes with Japan for the world's first or second largest seafood consumption per capita, and the demand for aquaculture products is increasing, and this year, there was news that aquaculture products worldwide exceeded wild catches .
There is a startup that is proactively preparing for and commercializing this era of aquaculture. It is the Korea Fisheries Research & Development Institute . The Korea Fisheries Research & Development Institute is a company founded in 2019 by CEO Kim Min-su with the goal of aquaculture on land. The company is currently developing and supplying a land-based smart aquaculture farm called ‘Pickle House (FiCl House)’ targeting shrimp aquaculture among aquaculture products.
Why did you choose shrimp among the many seafood? CEO Kim Min-su explains as follows. First, shrimp is a species with high global demand. The global shrimp market is worth about 43 billion dollars, and more than half of that, about 26 billion dollars, is consumed in Asia. The Korean market is also a very large market, worth 1.3 trillion won. However, 90% of the domestic shrimp market is imported, so the localization rate is very low. That is why the demand for domestic shrimp can be high. In addition, shrimp fry are only worth 10 won each, but after 4 months of farming, they can be sold for 1,000 won when they become adults, creating a large high value-added market. It is an attractive market in many ways.
However, is shrimp farming, which is not easy even in the ocean, possible on land? Disease, pollution, and water quality management are very important when cultivating shrimp and other aquatic products on land. This is where the competitiveness of the Korea Fisheries Research & Development Institute comes into play. CEO Kim Min-su confidently states, “Previously, in order to manage polluted water, 2 to 10 tons of water and about 2 weeks were needed per ton of polluted water. However, we can purify this in 30 minutes with about 0.3 tons of water.” With this technology, the Korea Fisheries Research & Development Institute stated, “It is possible to operate with only 70% of the investment cost compared to existing land-based farming.”
All of the key members of the Korea Fisheries Research & Development Institute, including CEO Kim Min-su, have qualifications as fish disease management specialists. Regarding this, CEO Kim expressed his technical skills by saying, “We are all fish doctors.” Perhaps this technical skill is what led to the above results.
Pickle House is also made easy in terms of management. When you access the management screen through the Pickle Manager app, you are given a 'to-do list' every day in the form of a daily quest. If you faithfully complete this, you can run a successful farm.
What is the productivity level? Shrimp farming in Pickle House can be done in about 4 months, and the production yield is more than 6kg per 1m³. This figure far exceeds the 1kg/m³ of S, a world-class marine shrimp farming company in Ecuador, or the 2kg/m³ of N, a land-based shrimp farming company in the US. In addition, CEO Kim emphasized that since most imported shrimp are only 15g, much smaller than domestic shrimp (40g), they can be farmed multiple times at a fast pace, which also secures price competitiveness with imported shrimp.
The Korea Fisheries Research & Development Institute has currently opened pickle houses in Chuncheon, Gangwon-do and Yeongju, Gyeongbuk, and has secured potential customers in about 77 domestic and 3 overseas locations. The challenge of the Korea Fisheries Research and Development Institute, which has walked the path of land-based aquaculture of marine products, is undoubtedly a noteworthy step in many ways.
Meanwhile, the Korea Fisheries Research & Development Institute has been selected for the ' G-Startup Youth Entrepreneurship Support Project' operated by the Gangwon Creative Economy Innovation Center and is receiving various support and nurturing. The program is a support project that aims to support the growth of startups with innovative ideas and technological capabilities in the province by providing business development funding, education, expert mentoring, and investment linkage by Gangwon Province and the Gangwon Creative Economy Innovation Center.
What problem is the Korea Institute of Fisheries Science trying to solve?
Due to recent decreases in catches and marine environmental pollution, it is becoming difficult to supply safe and fresh seafood. Therefore, we want to produce fresh and safe aquaculture seafood on land instead of the sea to create a sustainable aquaculture ecosystem.
The shrimp currently being produced are produced using traditional ocean-based aquaculture methods, but due to external factors, the disease rate is high and productivity is low, and in Korea, due to the nature of the four seasons, it is impossible to maintain the same temperature throughout the year, so most are produced once a year. In addition, since production is done using traditional methods that have been in place for a long time, production volumes fluctuate, making stable and sustainable production impossible.
So the method that is emerging now is land-based aquaculture. This method can block diseases and produce stably, but the initial investment cost is too high at present, so it is limited to one-time B2B type project-type business. In addition, it is a market centered on equipment, and it is a problem-finding solution tailored to monitoring, control, and sensing.
How do we solve this problem?
First, we want to move beyond the problem-finding and equipment-centered smart aquaculture market to a problem-solving-centered solution market. For example, our goal is to create an environment where anyone can easily farm shrimp by suggesting ways to quickly purify water when it is polluted or ways to help shrimp grow well when they are not growing well.
Second, by providing standardized land-based aquaculture farms from capital-based markets to technology-based markets, facility costs and operating costs can be reduced by more than 70%. We provide aquaculture farms that can operate stably by building a small area, faster water purification, and an expandable system.
What are our competitive and technological advantages over our competitors?
The most important things in aquaculture are water quality, growth, and disease management. The conventional method took an average of two weeks to purify polluted water, and required a filtration area 2 to 10 times larger than the polluted water. However, we can solve this problem with a filtration area of 0.3 times within 30 minutes, which significantly reduces aquaculture area, cost, and water usage.
In production management, we also provide tasks to be done every day in the form of quests through the FiCl House Manager App, a smart aquaculture farm. Since you just need to follow these, you can easily operate and manage them stably. Through this, we have completed FiCl, a smart aquaculture solution with productivity 30 times higher than traditional aquaculture farms, a survival rate of over 80%, and a success rate of 100%.
What products/services do we offer?
There are two main types of services and products we provide.
First, FiCl House is a land-based smart shrimp farm that can be farmed anywhere. It consists of 12 6m-sized circular tanks per farm module, a filtration facility, and a smart system.
Second, FiCl Manager is a software that is linked to FiCl House, and provides daily quests in the form of games that are tailored to the Farmer's Level based on data from AI's machine learning program. If users simply perform 'Today's Tasks' well through Pickle Manager, they can produce shrimp stably.
We have completed the POC verification of an advanced model in Chuncheon, and are preparing a commercialization model and showroom for Korea's first land-based shrimp farm in Yeongju, Gyeongbuk.
What is the market size that our product is targeting and who are the key targets?
The global shrimp market is worth about $4.367 billion, growing at a CAGR of 6.6%, with an annual production of 5.5 million tons. Of this, about 3.9 million tons, or 71%, is produced in Asia, accounting for about $2.656 billion.
In Korea, the market size is about 1.3 trillion won, and the annual shrimp consumption is about 110,000 tons. However, only 10% of this is produced domestically, and 90% is entirely dependent on imported shrimp. Korea’s shrimp import volume is ranked 6th in the world, making it a market with a high dependence on imports.
The initial entry market is the domestic live fish market (approximately KRW 168 billion) with a significant shortage of domestic production concentrated in the fall, and we aim to produce and distribute live fish throughout the entire cycle and transform the frozen import market, which is 90% dependent on imports, into the domestic/fresh market.
Our core target is to connect local buyers and consumers through local production/local consumption by expanding land-based aquaculture farms, thereby continuously providing a variety of shrimp types and desired quantities.
What is our business model?
The business model is simple. We develop Spot, a land-based smart shrimp farm, and then distribute the shrimp produced on consignment. Profits are generated from the following three models.
First, there is the development profit generated while developing the farm.
Second, it is a business that supplies feed, fry, water purifiers, etc. needed to run aquaculture farms.
Lastly, there is the profit generated by distributing consignment/directly produced shrimp.
What have the Korea Fisheries Research & Development Institute team achieved so far?
We are already operating two direct farms (Chuncheon, Gyeongbuk Yeongju) and have attracted initial investment of over 1.1 billion won. In addition, we have secured 3 domestic customers and over 77 potential customers, and 3 potential customers overseas.
We have proven our technological prowess through four patents and verification of land-based farming, and are increasing sales by signing contracts with seven distribution buyers.
What are our team's competitive advantages?
Our team is a specialized aquaculture company with more than 50% of its staff being aquaculture experts, including the CEO, who holds a license for aquaculture disease management. In particular, CEO Kim Min-su has over 10 years of experience in aquaculture, and with his field experience and expertise, he is working to produce a better aquaculture environment and sustainable, safe aquatic products.
In addition, based on our expert members who have abundant knowledge and experience in aquatic diseases, we are creating a synergy effect by blocking diseases in advance and managing water quality optimized for aquaculture.
Starting this year, we are accelerating the expansion of our distribution chain by joining key members with over 20 years of experience in agricultural and marine product distribution in order to enter the market in earnest.
3 Reasons Why We Should Invest!
First, the land-based aquaculture market is growing rapidly at a time when the paradigm shift is taking place from ocean-based to land-based aquaculture. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15.7% from $4.3 billion in 2022 to $16 billion in 2031.
Second, as a leading land-based smart aquaculture company, we have experience in attracting seed investment of over 1 billion won, and we have the technology to easily achieve BEP, such as a dramatic reduction in purification time (2 weeks to 30 minutes) and reduction in investment costs (70% reduction).
Third, the white shrimp market is a huge market, and if you have the technology, you can sell shrimp for 10 won per shrimp for 1,000 won per shrimp in just 4 months. You will be able to monopolize the domestic market, which is in a state of supply shortage.
WOW TALE Dacos
View the Full Article Text