• Vessev

  Participated · Series A · Aug 2026

  Vessev (formerly Seachange, and before that FreightFish, which built autonomous cargo vessels) designs and builds electric hydrofoiling passenger vessels along with the flight-control and telemetry systems that operate them. Its VS-9 entered commercial service with Fullers360 on Auckland's Hauraki Gulf in January 2025, and the company has since brought propulsion in-house with VS-Drive, an electric motor developed with co-funding from New Zealand's Low Emission Transport Fund. Operators in New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Europe have placed orders, including Taupō Hydrofoil Tours, Fly Derwent in Hobart, which has doubled its order, Finn Lough as its first European customer, and FlyTahoe at Lake Tahoe as its first US customer. A larger VS-18 is in development, and the company opened a US office in Rhode Island in 2025 ahead of entering the American market the following year. Founded by Max Olson and led by chief executive Eric Laakmann, Vessev employs 58 people at its Auckland, New Zealand headquarters. Financially, Vessev raised US$19 million (NZ$32.6 million) in Series A and follow-on financing in August 2026, led by Blackbird Ventures; the articles do not state a cumulative total raised across its earlier rounds.

• Flocean

  Participated · Series A · Nov 2025

  Founded in 2024 as a spin-out from FSubsea, Flocean develops patented modular systems that sit 400–600 meters below sea level, using natural hydrostatic pressure to cut capital costs by 7–8×, slash energy use by 50 %, and eliminate chemical pre-treatment. The company operates under a Build-Own-Operate model, selling water as a service to municipal and industrial customers through 15–25-year offtake agreements. It has already been desalinating water for 12 months at a test site in Mongstad Industrial Park and has secured preliminary project agreements with utilities across the Mediterranean, Red Sea and Indian Ocean regions. Flocean One, the first commercial subsea desalination plant, is slated to launch in 2026 at Mongstad and will produce 1,000 m³ of freshwater per day, with modules scalable to 5,000–50,000 m³ per day. The recent Series A extension brings total funding to $22.5 million, backed by strategic investor Xylem Inc. and several climate-tech investors. Proceeds will fund Flocean One’s deployment, expand the team, and accelerate commercial projects in Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, and island nations. The company positions its technology as a faster-to-deploy, lower-cost alternative to conventional seawater reverse-osmosis plants, targeting over 90 water-stressed coastal markets worldwide.

• W•SENSE

  Participated · Series B · Oct 2025

  Founded in 2017, WSense is an Italian ocean-technology company commercialising a patented underwater wireless communication system that functions as subsea Wi-Fi. Its Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) platform lets heterogeneous sensors and autonomous vehicles from multiple vendors interconnect, enabling large-scale, real-time monitoring of marine ecosystems, infrastructure integrity, and environmental conditions. The technology is being applied to underwater infrastructure inspection, environmental tracking, and robotic networks that support the energy transition. Led by CEO and Sapienza University professor Chiara Petrioli, the company employs over 80 engineers and researchers. WSense maintains offices in Italy, Norway, and the UK, with additional staff in France and the UAE. Including the latest financing, it has secured more than €25 million in total funding to date, which it is using to accelerate product development and international expansion.

No current team members are available.