“We are excited to launch a new growth strategy and add more people to our highly skilled team. A staff of 17 in Norway and The Netherlands is soon to be a staff of 28,” says Thomas Aas, CEO of Kontali.

Eight of the new positions are to be filled within the first quarter of 2021. These include Chief Technology Officer, Sales and Marketing Manager and several seafood analysts.

“Hiring executives in various fields of expertise is step one. Step two is for those executives to put together their own teams. We are looking to continue to expand business and staff in 2021,” says Aas.

The technology-driven strategy is a direct result of Alytic’s acquisition of Kontali. Alytic, Arendals Fossekompani’s new growth company, recently bought 71 per cent of the shares in the world-leading, independent company analysing the market of fisheries and aquaculture on a global basis. Kontali has the world’s most comprehensive private information database, a base that has been built over the last 25 years.

“However, our strength lies not in the data alone, but in our understanding and interpretation of the data. In order to provide accurate and reliable seafood insight, we must be at the forefront of the digital development to supply our customers with deeper insight and better user experiences,” says Aas.

Thus, Kontali is developing a new technological platform that will make it possible to offer subscription-based data and analysis which will be sold and marketed on a global scale. A new Chief Technology Officer will lead this process.

Kontali is also looking to increase its focus on sales and marketing, and to strengthen a unique domain competence.

“To progress into even more advanced analytics, advanced product development, and to extend our knowledge base to include more species and regions, we need more hands on deck,” says Aas.