• CSignum

  Participated · Series A · Apr 2025

  CSignum develops patented EM-2 systems that use electromagnetic field signaling (EMFS) to wirelessly transmit data through challenging environments such as water, ice, soil, rock and concrete to surface networks. Its core offerings include EM-2 hardware and CSignum Cloud, a dashboard and analytics platform already deployed on several river water quality monitoring projects. Key applications include water quality and environmental monitoring, wireless under-ship monitoring, and security for critical underwater infrastructure such as offshore wind turbines and oil and gas platforms. Founded in 2020, the company is working with customers in the UK, EU and US to address regulatory-driven demand for real-time monitoring. Upcoming compliance deadlines, including AMP8 real-time monitoring mandates, present a significant growth opportunity for its wireless solutions. The company plans to use the funding to expand its engineering team, advance its product portfolio and strengthen its market presence.

• Starboard Maritime Intelligence

  Participated · Seed · Apr 2024

  Starboard Maritime Intelligence is a New Zealand startup focused on maritime security. Its platform analyzes over a billion maritime data points daily — including ship tracking, satellite imagery, radar, oceanographic data and autonomous sensors — to detect suspicious activity and issue real-time alerts. The platform is already used by governments, defense agencies and commercial operators in over 30 countries. The company plans to expand its presence in North America, Europe and the Indo-Pacific region. Starboard raised A$20.7 million in a Series A to support that global expansion and further develop its technology. CEO Trent Fulcher says the platform protects maritime borders, infrastructure and commercial supply chains, and the financing will help set the standard for real-time maritime intelligence. Jonty Kelt (King River Capital) and Vu Tran (OIF Ventures) will join the company’s board. Starboard Maritime Intelligence is a Wellington, New Zealand–based SaaS startup founded in 2019 that applies machine learning to maritime data to detect suspicious vessel activity. Its software platform combines AIS, satellite imagery and scientific models to enable maritime activity monitoring and analysis. The company supports governments, border security authorities, NGOs and fisheries inspectors in prioritizing which vessels to focus on and inspect. In April 2024 Starboard raised A$4.6M (NZ$5M) in seed funding. The proceeds will be used to strengthen support for a growing number of analysts in the Pacific region and to expand the company’s go-to-market function into other countries and industry verticals. No operating metrics (revenue/users) were disclosed in the article.

• BlueTrace

  Participated · Seed · Feb 2023

  BlueTrace offers a cloud-based traceability platform that enables seafood organizations of any size to create logs (harvest, HACCP, receiving, shipping, cooling, etc.) and tag products from smartphones. Its mobile solutions empower frontline employees to reduce redundant data entry and errors, streamline operations, and trace shipments from tideline to table. A regulatory rules engine increases compliance while cutting paperwork. The company serves growers, wholesalers, distributors and dealers and reported 121% growth in 2022, expanding its customer base from 150 clients to over 350. Led by CEO Chip Terry and based in Castine, ME, BlueTrace intends to use new funding to expand operations and accelerate development efforts.

• AKUA

  Participated · Seed · Nov 2021

  AKUA develops plant-based foods built around ocean-farmed kelp, with products including Kelp Jerky, Kelp Pasta and The Kelp Burger as its current hero product. The company was co-founded by Courtney Boyd Myers and Matthew Lebo and launched its first product in 2019. AKUA began direct-to-consumer sales in May and ships to all U.S. states except Alaska and Hawaii; it ran a food club that signed up 1,000 customers and has preorders from over 100 New York stores. The firm has soft-launched a kelp ground meat product and plans a kelp crab cake in Q2 2022. New funding will be used for R&D into additional alternative meat and plant-based seafood products, hiring, and ramping sales and marketing. AKUA positions its ingredient approach around whole-food, clean recipes (15 food or food-derived ingredients in the kelp burger) rather than heavily processed substitutes.

• Beta Hatch

  Participated · Series A · Dec 2020

  Beta Hatch farms mealworms as an alternative protein source targeted primarily at livestock and pet feed. The company describes its farming process as “virtually zero-waste.” It is St. Louis-based and is expanding its flagship farm in Cashmere, Washington. Beta Hatch announced $10 million in funding as it eyes that expansion. The new facility is slated to be the largest of its kind in North America and the company expects to increase output 10x over the next year. The Cashmere location is currently powered by renewably sourced energy. Founder and CEO Virginia Emery said the company plans to grow its presence in rural America and employ and partner with local communities to help feed a growing global population. Beta Hatch is a five-year-old startup led by founder and CEO Virginia Emery, a PhD entomologist, that builds insect-rearing technology to convert organic waste into proteins, oils and nutrients for poultry and aquaculture. The company operates a SeaTac, Washington facility and is building a 42,000-square-foot flagship mealworm production facility in Cashmere, Wash., by converting a former juice factory. Beta Hatch is deploying a hub-and-spoke model with hatchery hubs producing eggs and ranching spokes growing product to scale mealworm production. The new Cashmere site will be powered in part by renewable sources, including waste heat from a neighboring data center, to lower energy needs. Beta Hatch expects the expansion to create 20–30 new operating, engineering and R&D jobs and will keep its SeaTac operation running into 2021 as a support and transition facility. The company has positioned its technology as a sustainable protein source for animal feed and continues to scale its distributed production model. Beta Hatch develops insect-rearing technology to convert organic waste into proteins, oils and nutrients for poultry and aquaculture. Founded in 2015 by PhD entomologist Virginia Emery, the company currently operates out of a facility in SeaTac and plans to move to a flagship facility in Cashmere, Wash. that will be the largest mealworm production facility for animal feed in North America, with capacity to produce a ton of insect protein per day. That Cashmere facility is scheduled to be operational in early 2021 and will be partially powered by waste heat from a neighboring data center. The company has completed the first published assembly of the yellow mealworm genome and will publish it in an open source article to support further research. Beta Hatch currently employs 14 people and plans to add 10–20 more once the Cashmere operation is complete. Beta Hatch was founded by Virginia Emery three years ago to address high costs of animal feed by raising mealworms as an alternative protein. The company currently operates in SeaTac and plans to relocate to the Wenatchee area this summer to lower operating costs and improve employee lifestyle. In Chelan County it is gearing up to build its first commercial flagship facility that expects to produce about 1 ton of insect biomass daily. The planned facility will take advantage of very low electricity costs (as cheap as 3¢/kWh) and will use waste heat from an adjacent data center to reduce energy use. Beta Hatch has a track record of non-dilutive and investor funding, having raised $4.8 million via grants and investment from parties including Cavallo Ventures. The company recently won a $135,000 prize at the Flywheel Investment Conference to help with its move and scale-up. Beta Hatch is a Seattle-based company industrializing the production of insects as a sustainable protein source for animal feed. The company is developing tools and processes to grow insects at industrial scale and has focused work around black soldier fly technology. It closed a $2.1M seed funding round to build a precommercial facility and continue refining its technology and process. Beta Hatch has partnered with Texas-based EVO Conversion Systems and joined The EVO Consortium to access fundamental BSF technologies and collaborate with other insect-rearing developers. The company plans to offer a comprehensive rearing workshop through the consortium to help establish production standards for American producers. Virginia Emery is Founder and CEO.

No current team members are available.