GTT Strategic Ventures is a venture capital arm of GTT Group.

GTT Strategic Ventures

Louis Dreyfus Company is a global merchandiser of commodities and a major asset owner and processor of agricultural goods. Its business includes trading and merchandising of commodities and processing of agricultural goods, operating a significant network of assets around the world. It was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland.

Louis Dreyfus Company

The Sustainable Ocean Alliance (SOA) is a global organization that advances the impact of start-ups, social enterprises and youth-centered initiatives that are developing solutions to protect and sustain our ocean. SOA’s pipeline of ocean leaders, ages 16-35, is cultivated through a chapter-based model, led by students at the high school and college levels, as well as by young professionals.

Sustainable Ocean Alliance

The European Innovation Council aims to support top-class innovators, entrepreneurs, small companies, and researchers with bright ideas. The EIC co-invests alongside private investors in early-stage startups that have ESG impacts.

European Innovation Council

The Center for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI) is a public corporation under the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, which promotes innovation and technological development of Spanish companies. Is the entity which channels requests for funding and support to projects I + D + i  of Spanish companies  in the national and international levels.  The CDTI has a staff of more than 300 people formed three quarters of engineers and graduates. Although the bulk of the infrastructure of the CDTI is located in Madrid, the Centre offers Spanish companies a strategic network of offices and representatives abroad (Japan -SBTO (Spain Business and Technology Office) - Belgium -SOST (Spain Office of Science and Technology) and Permanent Secretariat Eureka-, Brazil -FINEP (Financier of Studies and Projects) -, Korea, Chile, Morocco, China, India, Mexico and USA) to support them in their technological activities of type int .

Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI)

Shift4Good is a venture capital firm backing the startups decarbonizing the transportation industry. SHIFT4GOOD can deploy between €0.5m and and €20m per company. Shift4Good mostly invest in Series A and Series B rounds and can allocate 10% of our funds to pre-Series A rounds.

Shift4Good

Ocean Born Foundation is a grant-giving organization whose ultimate goal is to create new, sustainable streams of income to combat climate change by focusing on ocean health.

Ocean Born Foundation

Kai Capital Markets focuses on resources to make investments that are related to social responsibility, sustainability, and ethics.

Kai Capital Markets

SUN RETURNS provides wealth management solutions.

SUN RETURNS

bound4blue

bound4blue developes foldable and autonomous wingsail system to be integrated onto a wide range of vessels. The system has been conceived as a complementary propulsion system, which produces effective thrust from existing winds, reducing the main engine power required and, therefore, delivering fuel consumption and pollutant emissions reductions of up to 40% and it ensures a payback period under 5 years.

bound4blue is a Spanish company that has developed an innovative wingsail technology for maritime transport vessels. Their patented eSAIL system is a rigid wingsail based on aeronautics principles that harnesses wind power as a renewable energy source for propulsion. By utilizing wind energy, the eSAIL technology reduces fuel consumption and pollutant emissions by up to 40% for vessels such as merchant ships, fishing boats, and passenger vessels. bound4blue offers two types of wingsails - a foldable wingsail suitable for vessels with space and maneuverability constraints, and a suction-based eSAIL wingsail designed for smaller vessels and more affordability.

Advanced sails to reduce environmental impact and OPEX of maritime transport

bound4blue raises a €5M funding round

Bound 4 Blue • Verhaert Masters in Innovation

Bound4blue: Wind-Powered Wingsails for a Greener Shipping Industry

Sailing Towards Sustainability: bound4blue’s Wind-Powered Renaissance

Maritime transport: Bound4Blue, rigid sails to make air the new fuel

Conversadores Foro de Foros

Using autonomous, green, IoT, and digital technologies to shape the future of ocean-based transportation

Shipping Tech

Eastern Pacific breezes into wind propulsion with bound4blue sails aiming for 10% fuel cut

bound4blue is a Spanish company that has developed an innovative wingsail technology for maritime transport vessels. Their patented eSAIL system is a rigid wingsail based on aeronautics principles that harnesses wind power as a renewable energy source for propulsion. By utilizing wind energy, the eSAIL technology reduces fuel consumption and pollutant emissions by up to 40% for vessels such as merchant ships, fishing boats, and passenger vessels. bound4blue offers two types of wingsails - a foldable wingsail suitable for vessels with space and maneuverability constraints, and a suction-based eSAIL wingsail designed for smaller vessels and more affordability.
The eSAIL system features an autonomous control system that optimizes its operation through body rotation, flap positioning, and suction control based on input from multiple sensors. This automation ensures maximum fuel savings while guaranteeing the safety of the device. The eSAIL technology complies with the new International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations and aligns with the goals of the European Green Deal for a more sustainable maritime industry.
bound4blue's wingsail systems have already been installed on several vessels, with the company reporting fuel savings of up to 15% for early adopters. As of January 2024, bound4blue had signed agreements with major international shipping firms like Marubeni Corporation (Japan) and Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (France) to equip their fleets with the eSAIL technology.

Groke Technologies is a Finnish company established in October 2019 with the aim of becoming a leading provider of situational awareness systems and autonomous navigation solutions for the maritime industry. Its flagship product, Groke Pro, is a comprehensive situational awareness system that integrates data from various sources such as cameras, GPS, radar, and AIS messages. The system uses machine vision and machine learning to detect and classify vessels, even those without AIS, in both day and night conditions. Groke Pro's unique blending feature combines images from day and thermal imaging cameras, providing a clear view of the vessel's surroundings even in low-visibility situations.
The system continuously records, collects, and annotates data, enabling the machine learning models to enhance its capabilities for detecting objects of interest in challenging environments with increasing accuracy. Groke Pro offers tools such as risk analysis, intuitive risk compass, closest point of approach alarms, and relative velocity tracking to support decision-making. In March 2024, Groke Technologies partnered with BAR Technologies to develop situational awareness systems for BAR's WindWings wind propulsion technology, installed on the Pyxis Ocean bulk carrier.

Groke Technologies

Sea Machines Robotics is a pioneering company that develops autonomous command and control systems, as well as advanced perception technology for the maritime industry. Their flagship product, the SM300 Autonomous Command and Control System, enables vessels to seamlessly transition between unmanned autonomous mode and human manual navigation. It employs cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence, computer vision, and sensor fusion to facilitate precise control over vessel position, steering, speed, route planning, obstacle avoidance, and data collection during voyages.
In April 2024, Sea Machines unveiled SELKIE, an unmanned surface vessel (USV) designed for various applications such as hydrographic surveys, offshore asset inspections, environmental studies, and security missions. The SELKIE 7, a 7-meter HDPE hull vessel powered by the SM300 system, boasts impressive range and endurance capabilities, with a capacity of up to 500 nautical miles and 15 days of operation. Its robust autonomous functions, intuitive user interface, and survey-ready features, including sonar mounts and payload deployment capabilities, make it a versatile and efficient solution for marine operations.
Sea Machines' technology has demonstrated its potential in groundbreaking achievements. In October 2021, the autonomous tug Nellie Bly, equipped with the SM300 system, successfully completed the world's first 1,000-plus-nautical-mile autonomous and remotely commanded voyage of a commercial vessel at sea, covering 96.9% of the journey in fully autonomous mode.
The company's innovations have garnered significant interest and investments. In February 2024, Sea Machines secured a USD 12 million funding round led by Emerald Technology Ventures and other prominent investors, enabling further technological advancements and market expansion. Additionally, Sea Machines has collaborated with the US Coast Guard (USCG) to evaluate and refine its computer vision technology for maritime domain awareness, collision avoidance, and target detection on USCG vessels.

Sea Machines Robotics

Orca AI is an Israeli startup that offers an AI-powered, real-time navigation safety platform for the maritime industry. The company's technology combines computer vision, deep learning, and existing onboard sensors to enhance situational awareness for crews, reduce sensory overload, and enable better navigation decisions. Orca AI's system processes visual information during navigation, mimicking and enhancing human watchkeeping capabilities. By detecting and alerting crews to high-risk marine targets, the platform optimizes operations to avoid unnecessary maneuvers and speed drops, leading to reduced fuel consumption and emissions.
In 2023, Orca AI's technology resulted in an average fuel cost reduction of USD 100,000 to USD 300,000 per vessel per year (3-5% improvement) and a significant CO2 reduction of 172,716 tons. The system has been installed on hundreds of merchant ships, including vessels from major companies like MSC, Seaspan, Maran Tankers, TMS Cardiff Gas, ENESEL, and Latsco.
In February 2022, Orca AI achieved a historic milestone by powering the world's first autonomous commercial voyage in congested waters in partnership with NYK and the Nippon Foundation. The autonomous vessel completed a 40-hour journey, performing 107 maneuvers to avoid colliding with 400-500 vessels while operating autonomously 98% of the time.
Key customers and partnerships
Orca AI works with global shipping companies, including MSC, NYK, Maersk, and Seaspan, among others. The company has also entered into partnerships with industry leaders like NYK in Japan to develop automated watchkeeping capabilities, potentially reducing the manning of ship bridges under specific conditions.
In 2023, Orca AI announced a partnership with Marubeni Corporation for sales of its AI-powered situational awareness platform, particularly in Southeast Asia and Japan.

Orca AI

Buffalo Automation is a pioneering company that has developed cutting-edge technologies for the maritime industry. Their flagship product, Automate, is a predictive boat navigation system that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI), neural networks, and thermal imaging to detect obstructions and safety hazards, providing critical warnings and assistance to safely navigate around them. Automate has already been adopted by multiple commercial ships operating on the US Great Lakes.
The company has also developed Pegasus, a comprehensive navigation and safety system designed for smaller recreational boats. While compatible with today's gas-powered engines, Pegasus technology has been adapted to create Greycraft, an innovative product line that combines electrification, renewable energy, and modular design.
Greycraft is the world's first solar-powered, autonomous vessel capable of carrying passengers and traversing busy waterways. Its modular design allows for easy transportation and assembly, eliminating the need for trailers. Greycraft's vessels are designed to operate on the water for several years without maintenance, powered primarily by solar panels with battery backup.
In December 2020, Buffalo Automation successfully demonstrated the Greycraft concept in Knoxville, Tennessee, with plans for a fully operational launch of the Greycraft Water Taxi service in early 2021, initially offered free of charge to residents.

Buffalo Automation

Ladar Limited is a maritime technology company that designs, develops, and deploys laser and computer vision-based solutions for the maritime and offshore industry. The company's flagship product is the Ladar Sensor Suite, a smart system that enables real-time, highly accurate surveillance of the ocean surface layer and water column. This system utilizes sensor-based data and artificial intelligence to fuse data aggregation systems into a comprehensive decision support system, available 24/7. The Ladar Sensor Suite prioritizes the safety of crew, passengers, vessels, and cargo by presenting a visual consolidation of feeds for swift decision-making.
One of Ladar's key innovations is the PlasticDetect system, which offers an end-to-end solution for real-time detection, classification, and tracking of marine plastic pollution. This system comprises a unique multispectral, internally developed and patented laser-based maritime lidar sensor (Ladar Sensor Suite), visual and thermal sensors, and computer vision with AI and machine learning. It is complemented by a web portal data service.
Ladar's technology aims to transform the global maritime transport industry through the adoption of automated ship collision avoidance and (semi-) submerged target detection technologies. The company's solutions address the industry's needs for increased ship safety and collision avoidance, as well as the demands of the emerging unmanned and autonomous vessel technologies market. Ladar's systems are designed to meet regulatory compliance standards, protect the environment, and explore the digitalized and automated future of maritime operations.

Ladar Ltd

Software solutions that streamline the transportation process, including ocean-based shipping, from booking and tracking shipments to managing customs compliance and invoicing.

Technologies that improve the efficiency and productivity of ports and terminals, such as automated container handling systems, real-time monitoring of cargo and vessel movements, predictive maintenance systems, and port automation systems.

Developers of technologies for ships that can decrease carbon footprint, reduce energy consumption, and increase efficiency (this excludes autonomous and remotely operated ships).

Unmanned (either autonomous or remotely-operated) vessels that use AI and ML to navigate and perform various tasks, including cargo and passenger transport. Technology also includes systems that assist navigation by providing technologies such as collision avoidance and advanced perception.

Data analytics, sensors, and IoT devices that collect data on cargo, vessel, and environmental conditions to optimize shipping routes, reduce fuel consumption, and improve safety. These software solutions may use data analytics and predictive modeling to optimize shipping operations.

Data analytics and sensor technologies and automated solutions broadly falls under Industry 4.0

Data analytics and sensor technologies segment uses IoT

Green ships promote sustainable operations

Smart ports improve the efficiency and productivity of ports and terminals, facilitating smart cities

Autonomous ships sometimes use robotic solutions

Some companies use AI/ML tech for autonomous navigation

bound4blue

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