An Interview With Braid Theory’s Courtney Cannell

Hello Ocean Friends,

It’s BlueX’s second week of people-to-know interviews. This week I’m featuring Courtney Cannell from Braid Theory. Read on to see her take on AI in the Blue Economy and the new Continuum program. I have a bunch of great interviews lined up so stay tuned.

This also might be the largest quantity of Blue Economy venture investment announcements in one week. I’d have to go back and count, but I don’t remember there being eight in one week before.

Best,

Will

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People-to-know: Braid Theory’s Courtney Cannell

I sat down with Courtney last week and chatted about AI in the ecosystem and their new program: The Continuum.

Will: Thank you so much for spending some time with me. I appreciate it. Tell me a little bit about you and your organization and what you’re doing.

Courtney: Braid Theory is a vertically integrated venture advisory and accelerator, we’re based here in the Port of Los Angeles, and I’m the Program Manager. We support science and engineering companies through a hybrid model of services.

We're helping startups navigate commercialization by building along three pillars: capability, capacity, and intellectual capital. Since 2016, as part of the “braid” - which is stronger than a normal line, stronger than a twisted rope - it is weaving together entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and corporate partners to accelerate the adoption of transformative technologies in the Blue Economy. We’re working towards driving market growth and creating profitable collaborations.

Will: The Blue Economy is quite large, with a large number of verticals. For Braid Theory, where's the sweet spot? Is it a specific sub-vertical? A specific maturity stage?

Courtney: It's a great question because our legacy program, LA Blue, is an accelerator supporting startups developing solutions all across TRL four to seven and across all sectors of the blue economy. We'll touch on logistics. We'll touch on maritime. We'll touch on ocean data. And we love heavy science and engineering-led companies.

What we're really good at is creating those connections. Ann Lee Carpenter, the CEO of Braid Theory, and our team of mentors are incredible at connecting people to find the success that they need in their verticals. For that program, we're looking for the prototype stage at minimum. We have several programs now launching for the post-prototype phase, but for the 12-week prototype stage, LA Blue casts a wide net of A-to-Z in the Blue Economy.

What we're excited about is the Continuum Ocean Enterprise Accelerator alongside the Ocean Enterprise Prep Program. This is a new initiative aligned with NOAA’s Ocean Enterprise Program. Slightly more niche and focused on the adoption of ocean data technologies.

The mission of Braid Theory is focused on integrated partnerships, the Continuum Program falls within that and is no exception. We're a coordinated network of ocean enterprise accelerators designed to bring innovations to the forefront and break down the barriers that prevent startups from reaching the market. Alongside, Ocean Exchange, Seaworthy Collective, St. Pete Innovation District, Tampa Bay Wave, World Ocean Council, and the University of South Florida, we're able to build on this current and powerful ecosystem to drive innovation. It's something that we couldn't do alone. That's where I think we thrive.

Will: You see a lot of startups, sitting in this unique place in the ecosystem. Tell me about a startup or success story that you're excited about.

Courtney: Great question. I think one that sticks out for me is Clean Earth Rovers. They started with a focus on trash cleanup in the ocean and have since expanded to oil spill remediation and real-time water quality monitoring with their data pod. So the rover is an autonomous vehicle designed for marine cleanups. It can collect up to a hundred pounds of debris, absorb oil spills, et cetera. And they just recently launched their spill rover, which is specifically a vessel for oil response. That's a huge milestone not only for us but for the broader fight against ocean pollution.

It's been so exciting to watch their journey. They started with us, starting with a trash cleanup, and now they have expanded into multiple verticals. They also recently pitched at our investor day. They're currently in another fundraising round and have had strong interest from our investor partners. We're super excited to continue supporting their journey as they continue to scale and make a difference in the space.

Beyond individual startup stories, a major success for us is the launch of our European headquarters in Barcelona. And those partnerships that we've been able to build in Catalonia: the World Trade Center in Barcelona, Port of Barcelona, Acció, World Ocean Council, and Seastainable Ventures. We have our Global Landing Pads program there working with those partners, to help build Blue Economy entrepreneurs scale internationally. Whether it's here in LA, Barcelona, or Lisbon, the goal is to build incubation, access to events, and co-working spaces, and have landing pad support for startups when they’re working to expand into new markets. We've already seen great success within the Catalonia ecosystem and are so excited to continue to expand globally.

Will: Is there a technology that you're particularly excited about that you see? Is there a particular part of the blue economy or technology that makes you say “Let's do this?”

Courtney: Responsible AI is a huge passion of mine. I come from the SaaS AI space. What is exciting for me is to see the progression in the Blue Economy climate space of things that we thought weren't possible due to AI modeling. For me, it's advancing in AI-powered analytics: monitoring ocean health tracking and climate change impacts, and managing marine ecosystems more effectively.

The development of some of these AI models that can predict ocean temperature changes, track pollution sources, and monitor biodiversity is so beautiful from both a conservation and resource management lens. I just attended a talk at Caltech over the weekend. One of the speakers spoke about AI models now being able to accurately predict the weather, which has been incredibly notorious and difficult to predict past a week. Now we're able to successfully monitor and track two, three, and four weeks out accurately, which means we can then do climate modeling that is 5, 10, 15, and 20 years out. What that looks like for how we're managing the resources that we have from a climate lens is incredibly exciting to me.

Reeling it in to the current AI landscape, I'm excited about how to utilize AI to optimize mundane tasks. Leveraging AI for Blue Carbon Ecosystems or even optimizing stock if you're in fishery management. I think the long-term application of AI alongside climate is going to change the space for the better.

Will: I know you're looking for applications for your next program. Who are the startups that should be looking for you? Who should be applying?

Courtney: Both the applications for LA Blue and the Ocean Enterprise Accelerator are open on F6S until April 3rd. If you're an entrepreneur developing solutions in that A-to-Z scope - CleanTech, GreenTech, BlueTech, BioTech, et cetera - LA Blue may be a better fit. If you're clearly in that ocean and data focus, the Ocean Enterprise Accelerator will be a better fit. In addition, if you have attended an accelerator previously, we have a program specifically for you through the Ocean Enterprise Accelerator, which is available for TDC grants of $100,000+ for both programs. We're super excited about those.

Will: Awesome. Thank you for spending some time. I really appreciate it.

OceanTech Fundings

The main event. Startup investment announcements in OceanTech.

❄️ Seawater evaporative cooling company AtmoCooling raised $2.6M in a pre-seed round led by Nucleus Capital and Revent Ventures, with Marble, Unruly, Founders Factory Blue Action, Patrick Tilley, SwiftScale, Bronco Ventures, Hub71, and others. | More from FinSMEs

🐋 Catchwise, a fishing operational efficiency startup, raised €1.25 million in a pre-seed round. | More from Undercurrent News 

⛽️ Green methanol for shipping company C1 raised $22M led by denkapparat, Markus Hannebauer, and Arno Schödl, with Planet A Ventures, Maersk Growth, SquareOne, former Linde CEO Wolfgang Reitzle, and Siemens Chairman Jim Hagemann Snabe. | More from ESG Today

🥦 Hooked Foods, a plant-based food-tech company, raised SEK 8.4M | More from The Vegconomist

🦑 Aquaculture biotech startup Aquit raised $832,000 in investment led by Hatch Blue, with GRIDX, Ocean Impact Organisation, and other strategic investors. | More from We Are Aquaculture

⛏️ Industrial waste and seawater processing for critical minerals company, BlueShift raised $2.1M in a pre-seed round led by ConocoPhillips Company, Ridgeline, and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) | More from GlobeNewsWire

🚢 Maritime intelligence company, Kaiko Systems raised €6M in series A led by Hi inov and Flashpoint Venture Growth, with Motion Ventures | More from Tech.eu

⛴️ AI-powered autonomous ship navigation company Seadronix raised USD $11.3M in a series B round from LB Investment, KB Investment, the Korea Development Bank, Wonik Investment Partners, and Lighthouse Combined Investment. | More from FinSMEs

More OceanTech News

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

🚢 Tech Startup to Introduce Solar-Powered Ferries on Singapore River | Singapore-based technology startup Pyxis will introduce a fleet of ten solar-powered electric commuter vessels into service on the Singapore River within this year. | More from Baird Maritime

💰 Motion Ventures Launches ‘Largest’ Maritime-Focused Tech Fund to Date | More than half of Fund II’s target has been raised, with investments already made in two companies | More from Tradewind News

🌊 WaveX Seeks Investment for Next Wave Energy Development Phase | Australian wave energy company WaveX is seeking a seed investment round to fund the … | More from Offshore Energy

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