BlueX | 10-9-2023 | $100MM in BlueTech Investment

Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Want to know how Indigenous Peoples and Ocean Tech intersect? I invite you to take a minute to read the first sections of the Wikipedia page on Exploration of the Pacific.

This week was awesome for BlueTech. Over $100MM in investment in sustainable-ocean-tech companies. Awesome. Keep an eye out for SWEN Capital Partners, who was active in a majority of this week’s deals.

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OceanTech Fundings

The main event. Startup investment announcements in OceanTech.

✈️ Regent, an electric seaglider startup, raised $60m in Series A funding led by 8090 Industries and Founders Fund. Point72, Caffeinated Capital, Mark Cuban, UAE’s Strategic Development Fund, Future Planet Capital, Japan Airlines Innovation Fund, Yamato Holdings, and Lockheed Martin all participated. | More from TechCrunch

🌱 FlexSea, a blue biotech company that develops seaweed-derived bioplastic films, pellets, and polymers, raised €2.3 million in equity seed funding led by Indico Capital Partners, with the participation of RedRice Ventures, Btomorrow Ventures, Food Foundry, Vala Capital, ICON Capital, and Pente Capital. | More from EU Startups News

🚤 AYRO, a designer and manufacturer of the OceanWings wingsail solution for cargo ships and yachts, raised €19.2 million ($21 million) in a Series B round led by SWEN Capital Partners’ Blue Ocean, along with Ocean Zero, Bpifrance, AmInvest, Colam Impact, Normandie Participations, Normandie Littoral and FCPI Capital Innovant n°2. | More from Pulse 2.0

🛥 ETFuels, an e-methanol startup based in the UK, raised an undisclosed amount in funding from SWEN Capital Partners' SWIFT 2 fund to develop off-grid electricity-to-fuel projects at half the price of grid-connected competitors. | More from Maritime Executive

🧼 ECOsubsea, a Norwegian hull cleaning specialist, raised $12m in Series B funding led by SWEN Capital Partner's Blue Ocean Fund to expand its sustainable and competitive hull cleaning operations globally. | More from Maritime Executive

Special Announcement: New Accelerator Program

The Blue w(AI)ve program is the first-of-its-kind 16-week accelerator based out of Portland, Maine. We focus on early-stage companies leveraging artificial intelligence in ocean-based solutions. Applications for the inaugural Blue w(AI)ve cohort are now open.

More info here. Or check out their info session on October 17th.

More OceanTech News

Some of the OceanTech articles we liked. Not fundings necessarily, but some great stuff:

🌊 Tocardo concludes 8-year demonstration of Eastern Scheldt tidal energy array | Tocardo, a joint venture of QED Naval and HydroWing, has completed the demonstration of 1.25MW five-turbine tidal energy array in the Netherlands after eight years of operation. | More from Offshore Energy

💨 Building Better Blades: Renewed Funding Supports Wind Turbine Blade Innovations | Additional Research Will Enable NREL To Advance Sustainability and Efficiency in Blade Manufacturing Wind turbines are getting bigger, and so are turbine blades, which need to be made of durable materials if they are going to keep functioning for 20 or more years. | More from CleanTechnica

🧪 US DOE launches $16.4 million funding call for offshore wind and marine energy research | The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) has issued a funding call for research projects that will reduce risk and improve environmental compatibility of marine energy and offshore wind deployments in the United States. | More from Offshore Energy

More Ocean Sustainability News

Even if it isn’t tech, that doesn’t mean we don’t love reading these pieces:

🐟 Ocean-focused private equity firm invests in Icelandic fisheries, aquaculture tech company | Kapp has been growing steadily during the last few years and the investment will back the company's further growth plans. | More from Intrafish

🌋 Enhanced Geothermal, Offshore Wind Energy Gain Earthshot™ Support at PNNL | Leading two Energy Earthshot™ Research Centers, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will perform the fundamental research needed to harness the power of both subsurface heat and offshore wind to provide renewable energy from the Earth and the offshore environment. | More from CleanTechnica

🇬🇧 Study: Offshore wind supply chains could grow [the UK] economy by £92bn by 2040 | Maximizing social and economic benefits from the expanding offshore wind supply chain requires a systemic, long-term view, report warns | More from Business Green

OceanTech Jobs

There are a ton of career opportunities in this broad ecosystem. Are these right for you?

🌅 CDR and ocean acidification company Ebb Carbon is looking for a Director of Project Management.

🖥️ Carbon removal registry and science platform Isometric is looking for a Communications Lead.

⛵️ Shipping sail company Norsepower is looking for a Technical Documentation Specialist.

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