Good Practice: KOA Biotech, Spain

Good Practice: KOA Biotech, Spain

KOA Biotech, a Barcelona-based startup specializing in aquaculture health, has raised €2 million in funding to scale its early pathogen detection technology. The investment round was led by Swanlaab Innvierte Agrifood-Tech, with participation from international impact investors Fund-F (Austria) and FABER (Portugal).

Founded by Sira Mogas during her PhD in biomedicine, KOA Biotech was born from her ambition to create a mission-driven company that addressed a real-world need. Though she initially had no background in aquaculture, Mogas recognized a major challenge in the industry: bacterial infections in fish farms, which result in up to 30% production losses worldwide—amounting to more than $6 billion annually.

At the heart of KOA’s solution are genetically engineered biosensors that detect bacterial infections in water before they cause outbreaks. These proprietary sensors work alongside hardware readers and machine learning algorithms that analyze response patterns to deliver early warnings. This proactive approach helps reduce fish mortality, limit antibiotic use, and prevent financial losses—while also enhancing sustainability and enabling real-time health monitoring.

KOA delivers its technology through a “Sensing as a Service” model, offering equipment and consumables on a subscription basis, along with cloud-based access to monitoring data.