Please read about who The Seed Fund is here in our launch announcement.

The Seed Fund is preparing to release two publications on the startup maritime ecosystem.

1. The Maritime Startup Landscape 2023: The most comprehensive assessment of the startups focussed on the maritime sector globally. With over 450 startups surveyed, this expansive assessment will ultimately feature 250 startups in the final publication, grouped by their respective subsectors within the maritime industry. There will also be an executive summary of the trending themes within the sector.
2. The Maritime Investor Landscape 2023: Explore this guide to the growing community of investors targeting the maritime ecosystem. Just a few years ago, this category was nearly nonexistent. Now, discover the key players contributing to the expansion and innovation within the maritime space.

Upcoming: The Maritime Startup Landscape 2023

Expected release date: 28th May (Delayed from original expected publication date)
This landscape will focus exclusively on maritime startups, but will exclude some categories from the ‘marine’ sector. For example, this review does not include startups working on sectors that operate sub-sea (except in relation to helping the operation of ships), which might include fish farming, deep sea exploration or ocean cleanup.

Categories

There are three overarching categories, with a number of categories within them. The overarching categories are: Building, At Port and At Sea. Building is the physical building of hardware or ships related to the maritime industry. At Port relates to activities that happen at or near the port, including mooring and outer harbor activities. At Sea refers to any activity or technology related to a ship while in transit or at sea more generally.

Building

• Ship-Building (Inc. Alternative Vehicles & Powering): Involved in the innovation or building of vessels, including Ships, Sub-Sea Vehicles, alternative vehicles and Powering Solutions.
• Artificial island Building: Building that is specifically for making an island, instead of a platform in the oil dredging & R&D Section.

At Port

• Port Management: The management of vessels within the harbor and outer harbor.
• Cargo Management & Container Monitoring: The management of cargo, specifically relating to containers or freight. Includes cloud software for management or the building of new or unique containers to address a problem in shipping, or the building of an associated component relevant to containers.
• Freight Forwarding: Any intermediary that connects carriers and shippers.
• Recruitment & Crew Management: The management of individual sailors, including their initial recruitment and engagement over their time at sea (including crew scheduling).
• Centralised Analytics: A platform which combines data from other sources within the maritime context and may provide additional processing.
• Decision Support Tools & Databases: Tools that support decision making for both those at sea and supporting remotely from shore.
• Communication, Document Management & Transfer: Managing the digitisation and transfer of documents, and providing maritime focussed communication or collaboration.
• Ship Maintenance: Providing technology which aids in the maintenance of machinery .
• Procurement: For aiding in the procurement of any product used at dock or at sea.
• Training & Education: encompasses a wide range of programs, courses, and certifications designed to develop and enhance the skills and knowledge of professionals working at sea.
• Financing: Financing in the maritime industry refers to the various financial products, services, and institutions that facilitate the funding of maritime projects, vessel acquisitions, and operational expenses. Includes insurance.

At Sea

• Navigation, Steering, Voyage Planning & Autonomous: Technology for use or to aid the navigation at sea, including Voyage Optimisation and other software that ensure voyages are safe and compliant with industry requirements.
• Mapping of Sea: Technology for use mapping the sea, and seabed.
• Vessel Condition Monitoring & Fleet Management: Managing the location, condition and progress of an individual vessel or fleet. Also includes management of chartering for commercial or recreational purposes.
• Fuel Efficiency, Emissions & Alternative Fuel: Technology in use to make shipping and seafaring in general more sustainable and/or profitable.
• Disaster / Recovery / Risk Management: Technology which aids in avoiding any situation that might be described as a disaster, or the management and recovery of that situation

Upcoming: The Maritime Investor Landscape 2023

Expected release date: 28th May (Delayed from original expected publication date)

This publication is focus on the top 20 most active Venture Capital Funds that are operating with the maritime sector.

This article is for founders, startup-executives, and other investors to find suitable investors to connect to in order to raise funds for a maritime or marine startup.

The list is in no specific order, and is classified either as being ‘fund verified’, which means that the fund has approved the information, or ‘publicly sourced’ which means the information is taken from Crunchbase or another public information source.

Additionally, they are classified by Thesis Range – with some Venture Funds being specifically focussed on Maritime Startups and some with a wider thesis of supply chain or an equivalent sector.

This information and title might change closer to publication.