Now they will be listed together, with a company priced at NOK 100 million.
SANDNES (Nettavisen Økonomi 🙂 The American fishing boat captain is known in both Norway and the USA as a prominent figure in the documentary Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel. Sigurd “Sig” Jonny Hansen is often asked to take part in various entrepreneurial projects, but usually says no.
But the entrepreneur Helge Trettø Olsen could not let the chance pass him by when Hansen signed autographs in Stavanger. Captains had to simply hear about the idea that could save Hansen’s crab and lobster pots.
– He took my card, and I left with a feeling that I had at least tried. I had never imagined that he would call me three weeks later, Olsen says.
If we fast-forward the time a few years, to 26 November 2021, the duo is ready to ring the bell and list the marine technology company Resqunit on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market in Sweden.
– I was skeptical
That Sig Hansen and the Deadliest Catch team have been in Norway in recent weeks has been one bad hidden secret. The king crab fishery in Alaska has been closed for the first time in decades, and for the first time the recording is being made in Norway.
Hansen tells Nettavisen that he never envisioned investing in the idea of the entrepreneur when Olsen first contacted the autograph queue.
– I was skeptical. We fishermen are usually skeptical of anything new. But I eventually got in touch and wanted to hear more about the idea. I probably initially pointed out some things that I thought would not work, Hansen recalls.
When Olsen after a few months hit the thread and said that he had solved the problems Hansen pointed out, the crab captain was sold:
– Holy moly, I thought. This guy means business. I do not want my name to be associated with something I do not believe in. But I really think this technology can be a success, says Hansen.
This is Resqunit
- Founded in 2017 by Helge Trettø Olsen, Per Waagen and Dag Frode Aasnes.
- The marine technology company develops solutions to neutralize and recover lost fishing equipment. When a pot stays in the sea for a long time, fish and shellfish are released through a securing mechanism – before a floating unit is triggered so that the pot can be pulled up from the seabed.
- In addition to Resqunit, the group consists of the Swedish holding company Resqunit AB and the subsidiaries Resqunit Canada Inc. (90 percent ownership) and Global Ocean Data (67 percent ownership). In total, the organization has ten employees – and the company plans to double the number of employees in one year.
- The Resqunit technology also collects data from the seabed, and the company is in dialogue with the Institute of Marine Research and the Seafood Innovation Cluster on how the data can be used.
- The company is priced at NOK 100 million before its debut on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market.
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At the beginning of the collaboration, the TV star entered into a royalty agreement with the Resqunit founders to get ten percent of the turnover. Now, however, the agreement has been changed.
– I will not hide that it was a burden for the company to lose part of the small turnover we had. Sig also realized this, and tore apart the royalty contract. Instead, he got shares in the company, and has since bought himself up to become the second largest owner, Olsen says.
Will solve huge problem
Ghost fishing and plastic littering are a major problem for both fishermen and the environment. According to the WWF Up to one million tonnes of fishing equipment are lost annually.
Resqunit’s technology is a securing mechanism for crab and lobster pots. When a pot has been lying in the sea for too long, the escape hatch for the shellfish is opened and a floating unit is triggered so that it becomes possible to pull the pot up from the seabed.
– The idea itself is not new. We have managed to trace the product back to the 1970s via old patent applications. The reason we succeed is the timing. The financial incentive is not enough in itself, but now we live in a time where pollution and ghost fishing are something many people think about and want to help fight against, says founder Olsen.
Fishing boat captain Sig Hansen says he himself has been annoyed green over pots of up to 15,000 kroner that have been lost.
– We have lost count of how many pots I have lost over the years. More and more fishermen are thinking about sustainability now, and therefore I think the technology will succeed, says Hansen.
On Friday, Resqunit will go public in Sweden through a direct listing. This means that the company only makes the shares available for purchase and sale, without printing more shares. The company is priced at NOK 100 million after a share issue this autumn, and then had no immediate need for capital, according to CEO Olsen.
– Why do you go to Nasdaq First North Growth Market, and not Euronext Growth?
– We first looked at Euronext Growth and intended to go public there. But one of our investors in eastern Norway argued early in the process that Nasdaq represented a larger market. We arranged a meeting with them, and were impressed with the way they received us and what opportunities we were envisioned there. We simply felt more welcome and saw the possibilities for further internationalization at Nasdaq as greater.
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