Shelltas Selected as Featured Start-up at Blue Food Innovation Summit and to Present Water OS at WAS

Shelltas Inc. (Ota-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Koichi Tokuda) will present as a Featured Start-up at the Blue Food Innovation Summit, one of the world’s largest seafood and food-tech investment events, to be held in London in May 2026. The company will also give a 15-minute oral presentation at the World Aquaculture Society (WAS) conference in Singapore in June 2026. Shelltas has been selected and recognized by two independent world-class platforms: investors have acknowledged it as a business capable of competing globally, while academia has recognized its technology as scientifically sound. On the investment side, the Blue Food Innovation Summit, held in London on May 27-28, 2026, brings together marine-tech investors such as Aqua-Spark and Ocean 14 Capital, MOWI, the world’s largest salmon farming company, and agri-tech venture capital firms from Europe and Asia. Selection as a Featured Start-up represents market validation from global investors. Shelltas will present Water OS × SeaFect as water-environment infrastructure applicable to aquaculture and hydroponics on Earth, as well as food production on Mars, sharing its vision that “water technology that saves Earth will go to space.” On the academic side, WAS, to be held in Singapore from June 2-5, 2026, is one of the world’s leading academic organizations in aquaculture, gathering researchers and practitioners from more than 100 countries. Acceptance for an oral presentation indicates that Shelltas has passed peer review by top global experts. Its presentation will cover Water OS, a closed recirculating aquaculture system using SeaFect natural artificial seawater, and its design for zero water exchange, chemical-free, autonomously stable water environments. Japan’s fisheries industry is facing a critical situation. In 1984, Japan’s fish catch peaked at 12.82 million tons; by 2024, it had fallen sharply to 3.63 million tons, a 72% decline from the peak. Poor catches of key species such as Pacific saury, squid, and salmon have continued for years. Japan’s food self-sufficiency rate in fiscal 2024 remained at 38% on a calorie basis, far below Australia, France, and the United States. In addition to declining fish species, mineral circulation has been disrupted by dams and urbanization, while rising seawater temperatures, ocean acidification, and changing currents have caused fishing grounds to disappear. The disposal of approximately 200,000 tons of scallop shells annually has also become a serious issue, placing simultaneous environmental, resource, and waste pressures on the industry. Shelltas’ technology shifts the approach from “treating water” to “designing water.” Water OS, developed based on the company’s proprietary SeaFect material made from marine calcium, does not rely on machines, chemicals, or monitoring systems to treat or manage water. Instead, it optimizes mineral balance, microbial circulation, and pH/ORP to give water autonomous stability and self-purification capabilities. Because it requires neither natural seawater nor large-scale facilities, Water OS can enable safer food production anywhere water is available, and may also prove valuable in space environments where water resources are extremely constrained, including sustainable food production infrastructure on Mars. Since June 2025, Shelltas has continuously verified the technology for more than 10 months across five tank systems. The systems have operated with zero water exchange, no antibiotics, no chemicals, and no UV or ozone sterilization; ammonia spikes after feeding recovered autonomously without external intervention; stable rearing of Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica), one of the most water-sensitive species, was confirmed; and reproduction and juvenile survival of freshwater shrimp were observed. Application tests for scallops are underway, while tests for kuruma shrimp and whiteleg shrimp are in preparation. Shelltas advocates “Blue Regeneration,” a circular production model in which the environment regenerates through use. The company estimates a total addressable market of approximately JPY 86 trillion by 2030 across aquaculture, agricultural water management, hydroponics, and aquaponics, with a serviceable available market of about JPY 21 trillion in areas directly addressable by Water OS, including land-based aquaculture, hydroponics, and aquaponics. Its revenue model combines initial B2B system sales with recurring supply of SeaFect solution, creating a printer-and-ink style recurring revenue structure. CEO Koichi Tokuda said Shelltas is working to build new infrastructure for water environments, transforming aquaculture, which has traditionally required large capital investment, into something anyone can safely practice anywhere. By using a “smart water” approach that improves the quality of water itself without relying on special irradiation devices or chemical treatment, the company aims to democratize production while integrating with existing aquaculture facilities. Going forward, Shelltas will present at the Blue Food Innovation Summit in May 2026 and at WAS in June 2026, expand global proof-of-concept projects for high-value land-based aquaculture such as scallops and shrimp, commercialize and internationally license aquaculture units equipped with Water OS, and pursue applied research on Mars food production systems in collaboration with space agencies and space-tech companies.