Sensas technology has already delivered millions in savings, improved fish health, and lowered energy consumption for Norwegian fish farmers. Behind their data-driven solution is a development team in Dhaka that operates as a fully integrated part of the company. For founder Kjartan Nesse, the partnership with Cefalo became the key to scaling fast without compromising on quality.
– I was tired of working with data platforms that cost millions without solving the real problems, says Kjartan Nesse, founder and CEO of Sensa.
After years in heavy-industry companies, Nesse carried his experience from oil and gas into the aquaculture sector. The goal was to build a data platform that creates value, not just stores data.
Sensa collects and processes vast amounts of data from fish farming operations. Through sensors, cameras, and machinery, they can monitor everything from feeding to water quality and energy consumption. Using artificial intelligence and smart context mapping, the company turns raw data into insights that biologists, operations staff, and management can actually understand and act on.
– We connect users, AI, and domain experts with what we call trusted data. It all comes down to making the data reliable and easy to use, says Nesse.
In order to build a solution like that, he needed to find a development team that shared the vision. And that turned out to be no easy feat in Norway.
– I simply couldn't find the expertise I needed in Bergen, or anywhere in Norway, for that matter. Recruiting is both time-consuming and expensive, and we couldn't afford to get it wrong. When I met Cefalo, I quickly had a strong gut feeling about it, Nesse explains.
Cefalo´s CEO, Petter Gustafson is pleased to hear what Nesse is pointing out. He believes the partnership with Sensa has pushed the boundaries of how Cefalo delivers its services.
The collaboration between Sensa and Cefalo quickly evolved into a strategic partnership.
– I didn't just want to hire contractors. I wanted a partner who would take ownership and build the team alongside us. In that sense, Cefalo is a lot like us. They don't sell resources, they build teams, says Nesse.
Today, Sensa's entire development team is based in Dhaka. From there, they work closely with the product and customer teams in Norway as a fully integrated part of the company.
Cefalo has handled recruitment, HR, and scaling seamlessly, allowing Sensa to stay focused on innovation and growth.
– I get access to the very best developers through Cefalo. And I can scale at a moment’s notice. That’s worth its weight in gold during a growth phase, says Nesse.
The development team in Dhaka has adopted artificial intelligence as an integral part of their daily workflow. AI agents are used throughout the entire development cycle: From turning product ideas into precise task descriptions, through the coding itself with AI-powered tools, to multi-layered quality assurance.
AI also plays a key role in troubleshooting. If unexpected issues arise in production, AI is used to analyse logs, correlate errors with recent changes, and suggest probable causes – allowing the team to move faster from symptom to solution.
For Sensa, this means more than just fast development. It means having a team that doesn’t just write code, but leverages AI to deliver better quality at every stage. The developers spend less time on repetitive tasks and more on what truly matters: Architecture, domain understanding, and quality assurance.
– Working with Sensa gives us the opportunity to experiment and learn how to harness the power of new AI-based development tools, while building a cutting-edge AI-powered data platform, says Petter Gustafson, CEO of Cefalo.
Millions in savings for fish farmersThe partnership has enabled Sensa to develop and deploy advanced solutions at speed. The platform has already delivered millions in savings for fish farmers, with documented improvements in fish health and lower energy consumption.
– We have extremely high capital efficiency, which our investors are particularly pleased about. We couldn't have achieved that without the Cefalo model, says Nesse.
For Cefalo, this story is a textbook example of how a client can succeed when the partnership is built on trust, ownership, and shared goals.
– I truly feel that my value creation is the goal — not how many developers Cefalo can bill for. We celebrate each other's wins. That's what a real partnership looks like, Nesse concludes.