Maintaining good water quality is crucial for aquaculture farms to keep their animals healthy. Although there are tools like sensors and test kits available for monitoring, their high costs put them out of reach for many farmers in places such as Southeast Asia.
Aquawise aims to provide aquaculture farmers in Southeast Asia with an affordable solution for water quality monitoring by leveraging AI and satellite data, eliminating the need for additional hardware.
Based in Bangkok, Aquawise utilizes satellite imagery of fish and shrimp farms, processing these images with a physics-driven AI system that tracks factors like water temperature, chlorophyll concentration, and oxygen content.
Unlike conventional methods that check water quality on a daily or weekly basis, Aquawise’s platform provides ongoing monitoring, along with tracking and forecasting features.
“Water quality is among the top priorities in aquaculture,” said Patipond Tiyapunjanit, Aquawise’s co-founder and CEO, in an interview with TechCrunch. “It’s similar to how humans need to breathe. Aquatic creatures are constantly surrounded by water, so if the water isn’t kept at optimal conditions, it can lead to stress, disease outbreaks, and many other issues.”
Aquawise will present its technology during this year’s Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, taking place from October 27 to 29 at Moscone West in San Francisco.
Tiyapunjanit, who is just nineteen, shared that his passion for shrimp inspired a research project on shrimp larvae, which eventually led to the company’s creation.
While showcasing his research at the 2023 Young Scientist Competition, he met his future co-founders, Chanati Jantrachotechatchawan and Kobchai Duangrattanalert, who were mentoring a competing team. Impressed by Tiyapunjanit, they later became advisors to his project, which ultimately won the 2024 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair.
Afterward, the three had to decide on their next steps.
“We needed to take a step back and identify the most pressing challenge in this field,” Tiyapunjanit explained. “We discovered that water quality is the main issue, affecting 80% of aquaculture farms today and resulting in nearly $30 billion in losses each year.”
This realization became the basis for Aquawise, which was established in 2024.
Duangrattanalert told TechCrunch that while water quality isn’t as significant a concern for aquaculture operations in places like the US and Europe, it’s a major challenge in developing areas such as Southeast Asia. Farmers there often can’t afford monitoring devices and instead depend on weather updates and manual water checks, despite the risks of poor water conditions.
Duangrattanalert mentioned that Aquawise’s initial concept was to use sonar for water quality monitoring. They first experimented with acoustic sonar to gather data from water—even testing it in a fish tank at Tiyapunjanit’s home—before realizing that the costs would still be prohibitive for most farmers.
“Our goal is for people, especially in Thailand and across Southeast Asia, to feel empowered to use this technology to enhance their communities, regions, and farms,” Duangrattanalert said.
Aquawise is currently collaborating with several farms, using the collected data to further train its AI system. The team wants to ensure the accuracy of their model before offering it commercially.
The company is also planning to seek investment in the coming year.
“Aquaculture is currently the fastest-expanding food industry globally,” Tiyapunjanit noted. “The United Nations has identified it as a key sector to help feed a projected 10 billion people in the future, thanks to its ability to deliver high nutritional value with minimal emissions.”
If you’re interested in hearing directly from Aquawise, watching more startup pitches, joining insightful workshops, and making valuable business connections, click here for more details about this year’s Disrupt, happening October 27 to 29 in San Francisco.
