Considering that more than 70% of Earth’s surface is covered by water, one might expect nautical- and marine-focused startups would capture more than just a pittance of venture investment.
Historically that wasn’t the case. But more recently, startup investors are putting more capital to work around these themes.
Over the past year, venture backers have poured close to $3 billion into good-sized rounds for marine-related startups in sectors ranging from defense tech to clean energy, per Crunchbase data. Top areas for investment include autonomous sea vessels, water robots, electric watercraft and ocean data.
Lead fundraisers
A single company — Saronic — accounts for most of the past year’s haul. The Austin-based startup, which develops autonomous sea vessels and counts the U.S. Navy as a key customer, secured $1.75 billion in Series D funding in March.
The round, led by Kleiner Perkins, set a $9.25 billion valuation for 4-year-old Saronic, which is scaling at a fast clip. The company announced this summer that it plans to invest more than $3 billion to build a next-generation shipyard in Brownsville, Texas, focused on software-defined shipbuilding and autonomous maritime systems.
China-based Seahi Robotics, a developer of marine robotics technology, was a distant second for equity fundraising. The 3-year-old startup closed on a $150 million Series A round in July backed by a long list of venture investors.
In third place, meanwhile, is Rhode Island-based Regent, a developer of vessels called Seagliders that operate just over the water at the speed of an aircraft. The 6-year-old startup picked up $120 million in Series B equity funding in August led by maritime-focused investor Mare Liberum and AE Industrial Partners, plus an additional $120 million in debt financing.
Overall, Crunchbase data showed quite a few maritime-focused startups funded in roughly the past year that have raised significant capital to date. To illustrate, below we put together a sample list of 27 that fit this criteria.
Top investors
Several investors have assembled particularly prolific portfolios of companies focused on the seas.
Among generalist VCs, one standout is Andreessen Horowitz, a backer in three companies on our sample list: Saronic, electric-boat maker Arc Boats, and Ulysses Ecosystem Engineering, a developer of small, autonomous craft for undersea environments. In announcing its April Series A lead investment in Ulysses, the firm pointed to promoting U.S. naval supremacy as an investment theme, along with reengineering technologies first envisioned on land to also work at sea.
Founders Fund is another generalist that has emerged as a marine startup serial investor. The firm has backed three companies on our list: Regent, Fleetzero, a builder of battery electric cargo ships, and Panthalassa, a developer of renewable energy systems in the ocean.
Besides cross-sector venture investors, Crunchbase data also shows a growing array of specialized firms with multiple maritime startups in their portfolios. This includes Ocean Zero, focused on startups reducing emissions from boats and ships, and Mare Liberum, a marine-focused investor with Pentagon backing.
Autonomy, AI and robots
While the sea may be exotic terrain for venture dealmaking, in many ways maritime funding fits pretty cleanly into prevailing investment trends.
Perusing the sample list of funding recipients from the past year, for instance, three sectors account for the vast majority of funding: autonomy, AI and robotics. Notably, these are core areas of strength for venture investments tied to land and space as well.
Moreover, a hefty chunk of marine investment also has defense tech applications. This coincides with the sharp rise overall in recent quarters in venture investment in startups with military applications.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether venture investors’ enthusiasm will continue for what looks to be a capital-intensive space to scale. For now, however, marine-focused startups are managing to convince backers they can do a lot more than just stay afloat.
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Illustration: Dom Guzman
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