Founded in 2023 in Rhode Island by maritime practitioners and defense engineers, Vatn Systems is building scalable fleets of autonomous underwater vehicles for the U.S. military, allied governments, and civilian customers. Its flagship platforms, the Skelmir S6 and Skelmir S12, combine a plug-and-play payload architecture with INStinct, the company’s proprietary inertial navigation system that provides GPS-denied guidance at a fraction of traditional costs. The vehicles support distributed sensing, ISR, mine countermeasures, electronic warfare, and other emerging undersea missions, and can be re-configured for offshore energy, port security, and environmental monitoring in days rather than months. Throughout 2025 the company delivered AUVs to U.S. government customers, ran successful open-water demonstrations, and ramped production capacity to meet growing demand. Vatn positions itself as a future “underwater defense prime” by offering attritable, mass-deployable systems that align with shifting naval doctrines. Commercially, the same low-cost autonomy unlocks persistent coastal infrastructure monitoring and scientific research opportunities. The recent capital infusion is intended to accelerate production scaling and broaden mission profiles for both defense and civilian markets.

Total raised

$73M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

Dec 2025