Aquawise will show off its AI-driven water quality tech at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

Water high quality is a very powerful factor for aquaculture farms to watch to make sure their livestock stay wholesome. Whereas there are present methods to watch water high quality — sensors and water testing kits — they’re too costly for a lot of farmers in areas like Southeast Asia.

Aquawise desires to supply aquaculture farmers in Southeast Asia a greater option to monitor their water high quality through the use of AI and present satellites — no {hardware} purchases required.

Bangkok-based Aquawise takes satellite tv for pc photographs of fish and shrimp farms and feeds them into its physics-based AI mannequin that displays the water for issues like temperature, stage of chlorophyl, and oxygen ranges.

Aquawise’s platform can monitor water high quality constantly; conventional strategies monitor each day or weekly. Aquawise additionally provides monitoring and predictions.

“Water high quality is among the most vital issues in aquaculture,” Patipond Tiyapunjanit, co-founder and CEO of Aquawise, instructed TechCrunch. “It’s like being a human: You need to breathe. The aquatic life, they’re dwelling within the water on a regular basis. If the water high quality doesn’t keep on the optimum stage, it might trigger the stress, it might trigger illness outbreak, and lots of issues.”

Aquawise might be showcasing its tech as a part of this yr’s Startup Battlefield competitors at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, which runs October 27 to 29 at San Francisco’s Moscone West.

Nineteen-year-old Tiyapunjanit stated that the thought for the corporate began with a love of shrimp that led to a analysis undertaking about shrimp larvae.

Whereas presenting his undertaking on the 2023 Younger Scientist Competitors, he met his co-founders, Chanati Jantrachotechatchawan and Kobchai Duangrattanalert, who had been advising a rival workforce. Jantrachotechatchawan and Duangrattanalert had been impressed by Tiyapunjanit and ended up advising Tiyapunjanit’s undertaking, which went on to win the 2024 Regeneron Worldwide Science and Engineering Honest.

Then the trio had to determine what to do subsequent.

“We’ve to step again and attempt to discover a very powerful downside on this business,” Tiyapunjanit stated. “We discovered that it’s a water high quality downside; 80% of farms in aquaculture at the moment are going through it. It value virtually $30 billion of losses annually.”

That grew to become the inspiration for Aquawise which was based in 2024.

Water high quality isn’t as large of a problem for aquaculture farms in areas like america and Europe, however is a a lot larger downside in creating areas like Southeast Asia, Duangrattanalert instructed TechCrunch. Farmers on this area can’t afford monitoring know-how and as an alternative depend on climate stories and handbook checks on the water, regardless of the potential penalties of poor water high quality.

Aquawise’s first concept was to make use of sonar to watch water high quality, Duangrattanalert stated. Their authentic concept was to make use of acoustic sonar to seize knowledge from water — and even examined it on a tank of fish at Tiyapunjanit’s home — earlier than realizing that it could nonetheless be too large of a monetary hurdle for farmers.

“We would like individuals, particularly in Thailand, and in the entire Southeast Asia [region], to really feel that they will use it so as to enhance their livelihood in time period of the neighborhood, the area and the farm itself,” Duangrattanalert stated.

Aquawise works with a number of farms and is utilizing the info it collects to proceed to coach its AI mannequin. The corporate desires to verify its mannequin is correct earlier than it begins promoting to farms.

The startup additionally plans to lift cash from buyers within the new yr as nicely.

“Aquaculture is the fastest-growing meals sector worldwide at the moment,” Tiyapunjanit stated. “It was the one business projected by United Nation as the easiest way to assist feed 10 billion individuals in coming years due to its capability to create excessive diet with very low quantity of emission.”

If you wish to study from Aquawise firsthand and see dozens of extra pitches, attend useful workshops, and make the connections that drive enterprise outcomes, head here to learn more about this year’s Disrupt, October 27 to 29 in San Francisco.