With an invention that looks like it came straight out of a Hollywood film, a start-up based in California is aiming to help protect the Middle East's seas.
Aquaai's robots look like fish and swim like fish, but they also carry a payload of cameras and sensors that the company says could hold the key to providing better data on the health of oceans, rivers and streams.
The company says the same technology, in turn, could help propel the growth of businesses and the economy.
Aquaai has opened a branch in the UAE through the assistance of Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s technology ecosystem.
Liane Thompson, chief executive and co-founder of Aquaai, puts her own unique spin on the model on which the company operates.
"We're an SaaS model," Ms Thompson said, referring to software as a service, the licensing model used by various technology companies .
"We call it FaaS, fish as a service," she added.
Aquaai leases its proprietary fish robot and software data platform to clients, who include research institutions and fish and aquaculture farms.
"[Other fish and ocean life] embrace it, thinking it's one of them, so they're not afraid," said Ms Thompson.
The company was founded in the US in 2014, and later opened a subsidiary in Norway in 2019.
The 3D-printed clownfish-like robots are able to transmit video footage, as well as data that can help track salinity, dissolved oxygen, temperatures and other measurements considered important to researchers and clients in the blue economy industries.
They can easily access the collected information from a digital dashboard.
"It can stay in the water for about a year because it does inductive charging," said co-founder Simeon Pieterkosky, who explained the specifics of Aquaai's technology at the DriftX transportation exhibition in Abu Dhabi.
"It doesn't have a propeller, so it can swim almost anywhere, and it can also avoid coral," he said, comparing it with other underwater devices used to monitor and collect data, such as torpedo drones.
Mr Pieterkosky said that the ability of Aquaai to provide reactionary data in real time, sets it apart from other methods of data collection that might involve humans, boats and probes.
"It's all about saving time and getting the data right away as opposed to trying to monitor something after the event," he said, referring to both natural and man-made disasters that can require the immediate monitoring of oceans, lakes and rivers.
Since its founding in 2014, both Ms Thompson and Mr Pieterkosky say that Aquaai has relied mostly on venture capital firms such as Adam Draper's Boost VC and Arlan Hamilton's Backstage Capital in California, as well as a couple of angel and family investors.
Aquaai also received various research grants in Norway.
"The primary investors that come in know that it's not a simple task that we're solving [water health], it's a hard task that we're trying to solve and it's global," Mr Pieterkosky said.
"The majority of people who invest in us are really adventurous, it's not your typical VC, it's people who know this is something we need," Ms Thompson added.
With Aquaai now present in the UAE, the company is looking to partner with businesses to manufacture the robotic fish and scale up across the Middle East.
"We have the government support here thanks to Hub71 and Abu Dhabi Global Market, but we're also looking for the right business partner to help us scale in the region," Ms Thompson said, also noting that there was "no shortage of customer demand", but that increased investment in the company would help it reach a wider audience.
The UAE's recent hosting of the Cop28 climate conference, along with other environmental endeavours, also piqued Aquaai's interest.
"It has a dedication to autonomous and integrated systems like ours," Ms Thompson said.
"It also has a water security strategy for 2036," she added, referring to the UAE's plan to ensure water security.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
We Weren’t Supposed to Survive But We Did
We weren’t supposed to survive but we did.
We weren’t supposed to remember but we did.
We weren’t supposed to write but we did.
We weren’t supposed to fight but we did.
We weren’t supposed to organise but we did.
We weren’t supposed to rap but we did.
We weren’t supposed to find allies but we did.
We weren’t supposed to grow communities but we did.
We weren’t supposed to return but WE ARE.
Amira Sakalla
Tonight's Chat on The National
Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.
Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster who has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others.
Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.
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