By Dimitra Manifava

Fish farming may have nothing in common with the digital world, but it is technology-intensive. That may be one of the factors that has led to the involvement of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in the aquaculture sector, including in Greece.

Kathimerini newspaper understands that the Gates Foundation has already financed the Greek-owned fund Diorasis, which is increasingly active in the local industry through Philosofish (formerly Bitsakos Fish Farming).

Philosofish constitutes the second biggest pillar of Greek fish farming, thanks to the process needed for the acquisition by rival Andromeda of Selonda and Nireus last year. The merger of these three companies could only be approved by the European Commission through the sale of assets of Nireus and Selonda to third parties.

One of those parties was Philosofish, which added new units with a capacity of 12,000 tons to its capacity of 5,000 tons per annum, plus other assets.

According to sources, there may also be some funding coming to the Greek company in the near future from a top investment entity that is already involved in the share capital of several Greek corporations that are active in other sectors of the local economy.