Participated · Equity · May 2025

Saildrone develops unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) powered primarily by wind and solar that carry sophisticated sensors and proprietary AI to monitor the maritime environment above and below the surface. Its Voyagers deliver long-duration operations measured in months and support use cases including border protection, critical infrastructure security, and hydrographic survey. The company has sailed more than 2,000,000 nautical miles and spent over 50,000 days at sea across the High North to the Southern Ocean. Saildrone is expanding its operational footprint in Europe and will establish a European headquarters and operational hub in Copenhagen, Denmark. As part of that expansion, it plans to roll out maritime intelligence services to multiple NATO countries and provide 24/7, year-round coverage for critical infrastructure in the Baltic and North Sea. The company recently closed a $60 million financing to accelerate these European deployments and defense partnerships. Saildrone develops and operates autonomous science vessels (USVs) used for ocean mapping, data collection, and marine intelligence. Its fleet has collectively traveled half a million miles and is deployed on missions that would be too dangerous or tedious for human crews, including a NOAA project that sent a vessel into a hurricane. The company’s newest craft, the Surveyor, can spend a year at sea and map the ocean floor beyond two miles of depth. Saildrone positions its systematic data collection to support scientific research, ship routing, and sustainable aquaculture as the ocean economy grows. To capture more of the emerging 'ocean domain intelligence' market it plans to scale production, hire "data insight teams," and expand go-to-market functions. The recent funding is intended to accelerate that scaling and further development of its fleet. Saildrone develops and operates a fleet of unmanned surface vehicles (ocean drones) to collect high-resolution ocean observations. The company sells ocean infrastructure and data used for weather analysis, fisheries management, and in‑situ ocean science. It has partnered with US agencies including NOAA and NASA and announced a multi‑year collaboration with Australia’s CSIRO, opening operations in the Southern Ocean from Hobart, Tasmania. Saildrone recently opened a 200,000 square foot advanced manufacturing facility in Alameda, California to support scale‑up. The company plans to use new capital to scale its global fleet and monitor the state of the planet in real time. Since its commercial debut in 2016 the company has raised almost $90m in total. Saildrone operates wind- and solar-powered unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) that collect ocean and atmospheric measurement data. The company’s fleet has sailed over 60,000 nautical miles on missions in the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico and Bering Sea. Leadership is led by founder and CEO Richard Jenkins with Sebastien de Halleux as COO. Saildrone plans to use new capital to expand its fleet, enhance data processing capacity and scale commercial operations. The company closed a $14M Series A to support those plans. Prior to the round it received a mission-related investment from The Schmidt Family Foundation.

Participated · Series A · Nov 2023

Zero Emission Industries (ZEI), formerly Golden Gate Zero Emission, develops hydrogen refueling and fuel-cell power systems for maritime and heavy-duty applications and is best known as the technology team behind the Sea Change ferry launched in 2021. The company says it has patented hydrogen refueling technology and builds integrated fueling and power solutions aimed at solving practical customer and supplier challenges. ZEI plans to offer integrated fueling and power system products in 2024 to expand commercial deployments. Leadership frames the business as mission-driven to decarbonize maritime transport and to expand into other hard-to-decarbonize sectors. Strategic partnerships with Chevron New Energies, Trafigura and Crowley are positioned to provide experience, insights and infrastructure to scale operations and meet customer demand. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and emphasizes tangible, defensible technology rather than theoretical solutions.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2022

Newtrul operates a carrier platform that lets trucking companies search for the best shipments across multiple customers and connects brokers and carriers digitally in real time. The platform emphasizes one-click onboarding that allows trucking companies to join new brokers quickly, unlocking billions of dollars of freight in less than 10 seconds while helping ensure compliance alignment to avoid lost bookings. Newtrul collects and optimizes relationship and shipment data to help brokers identify the best truck for a shipment and to improve communication. The company plans to use the new funding to refine its communication, CRM, and onboarding functions. Led by co-founder and CEO Ed Stockman, Newtrul has added more than 10,000 active carrier users over the past year and is working with nearly 75 customers. The company is based in Chicago, IL.

Participated · Equity · Sep 2022

Carbon Ridge, based in Los Angeles, is focused on designing modular onboard carbon capture and storage (OCCS) systems that can be retro-fitted into vessel exhaust lines. The technology is engineered to cut carbon dioxide and other greenhouse-gas emissions from ships by up to 95% while shrinking equipment size and volume by as much as 75% compared with conventional CCS approaches. In addition to the capture hardware, the company offers an end-to-end service stack that covers CO₂ transportation, permanent sequestration, and credit monetization. Carbon Ridge positions its OCCS platform as a low-cost, near-term route for maritime decarbonization that avoids operational disruption for ship owners. The firm plans to use its latest capital infusion to complete development and launch an onboard pilot in 2023. Prior to the recent raise, no other funding figures were disclosed in the article, leaving the company at an early stage of commercialization.

Participated · Series A · Mar 2022

Loadsure is an insurtech Managing General Agent (MGA) that digitalized the full cargo insurance life cycle, offering one-click coverage for the U.S. freight industry and an international per-shipment insurance API. Its core product is a data-driven, embedded insurance platform and proprietary smart technology for the global cargo and freight insurance market. The company positions its platform to help freight industry businesses better understand risk and reduce loss by enabling insurance brokers to better serve their communities. With the new funding, Loadsure plans to accelerate development of its technology and continue evolving its human-centric risk-management capabilities. The company also intends to grow its entrepreneurial organization and make strategic hires to expand product and market reach. Loadsure has emphasized its domain expertise and industry contacts as foundations for a seamless and scalable product. Loadsure is a London, UK-based spot freight cargo insurance company and international insurtech Managing General Agent (MGA). It offers an end-to-end, cloud-based insurance solution that leverages predictive analytics and a technology stack to serve the spot freight community. The company provides a one-click insurance integration designed for loadboards, freight marketplaces, and transportation management system platforms. Loadsure is a coverholder at Lloyd's. The company is led by founder and CEO Johnny McCord. It plans to use recent funding to expand its business reach and market its integration to transportation platforms in the U.S.