🚢 Can shipping go emissions free?
Founders Factory Startup Bulletin: Ocean Tech Special
This is the Startup Bulletin—written for founders, by founders. Each month we bring you a round-up of startup and investment stories, key learnings from founders, and insights from the Founders Factory team.
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Interviewing DRIFT Energy’s founder Ben Medland last year, I asked him why he thought the oceans got a fraction of the attention that the wider environment does. His answer:
“It comes down to mind share and proximity. People have sympathy for the ocean, but they rarely interact with it. The people who do, really get it. But there are so many problems in the world right now, that we’re often distracted by what's in front of your eyes.
“The ocean is hidden.”
The blue economy receives less than 3% of total climate investment, according to a recent report by JP Morgan. The statistics are striking, for something which covers more than two-thirds of our planet, and stores 50x times more carbon than the environment.
Shipping is one such critical focus area. While aviation is far more carbon intensive than shipping, the overall impact of the shipping industry massively outstrips aviation—accounting for 3% of global GHG emissions.
Solving for shipping means solving for the oceans. Solving for the oceans means solving for the planet. So is the shipping industry open to decarbonisation? In this month’s Ocean Special Startup Bulletin, we look at various solutions that are disrupting the shipping industry to make it cleaner and more efficient.
Also in today’s Startup Bulletin:
Our top recommended reads
News from our portfolio
Opportunities, jobs, etc
🚢 Can shipping go emissions free?
Four startups transforming, disrupting, and decarbonising the shipping industry
Armada
The problem: Shipping uses a popular technology called ‘air lubrication’ to help boats travel more efficiently. In essence, these are machines which release a thin layer of microbubbles across the hull of a ship, to reduce friction with sea water.
This technology is not without its flaws though. Most systems rely on compressors, energy intensive machines that can even increase the drag on ships when not in operation. Their efficiency is disputed (many estimate they lead to between 0 and 7% in fuel savings), and are also limited to certain conditions (they have limited efficacy in stormy seas).
The solution:
Armada has patented a new ‘passive air lubrication system’, using the ship’s forward motion to create a precise air-water mixture for lubrication which crucially doesn’t rely on air compressors. This system gives better overall performance and is adaptable to various conditions.
Their impact: It’s summarised best in their tagline—”The cleanest energy is the energy we never use.”
Brineworks
The problem: Electrification faces a huge roadbump when it comes to shipping. Instead, the industry (as will many ‘heavy industries’) will rely massively on the production of e-fuels (the likes of CO2 and hydrogen) for clean power.
The solution: Brineworks ingeniously tackles two ocean challenges. They draw on the ocean’s vast carbon store (as well as its near infinite supply of hydrogen) for the scalable and sustainable production of e-fuels, through saltwater electrochemistry.
The impact: Brineworks expects to be able to extract CO2 at less than $150/ton, well below current costs of $600-$1000/ton, while at the same cleanly powering maritime (as well as aviation). Moreover, their modular system creates the possibility for fuel production anywhere you find seawater.
Metal Light
The problem: While focus sits firmly on the ships themselves, we can’t ignore port infrastructure when it comes to wider decarbonisation. Port side power remains a huge issue, with ships relying on diesel engines to generate electricity even while docked.
The solution: Metal Light metal-air generators create sustainable and circular energy from waste metal. Once used, metal is oxidised, refined, and ultimately reused.
The impact: Standard shore power cable handling equipment can connect their metal-air generators to ships’ internal distribution, allowing them to turn off internal generators and run cleanly when docked.
Offshore Designs
The problem: ‘Hull fouling’ (AKA dirty ship hulls) has a huge impact on the efficiency and speed of vessels. It’s believed to add $30BN in costs every year to the shipping industry, not to mention the vast environmental impact.
The solution: Offshore Designs’ HullM8 robot is the first hull cleaning robot capable of cleaning a wide range of growth. This is done proactively, while ships are in ports to unload or refuel, rather than in a dry dock.
The impact: Proactive hull cleaning has a vast range of benefits for the shipping industry, not only offering cost savings but also reducing GHG emissions, preserving hull coatings, and reducing dry dock time.
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These four companies are all part of our Blue Action Accelerator portfolio. If you’re building in this space, or solving other blue economy challenges, we’d love to hear from you.
📚 What we’ve been reading this month
Gold rush: Why VCs suddenly love mining (Sifted)—featuring comments from our head of investments, Olivia Brooks
What to watch in 2025 (The Generalist)
By default, capital will matter more than ever after AGI (LessWrong)
🚀 Highlights from Founders Factory & our portfolio
We announced the launch of Blue Action Canada, with plans to initially back eight British Columbia-based startups innovating in the blue economy. Check out details of our first cohort here
We kicked off our CODE Accelerator, a bootcamp bringing some of MENA’s top early stage entrepreneurs to London for six weeks of in-person programming and networking.
Entrepreneur featured profiles of two stellar founders from our portfolio: Cat Jones, founder of Byway; and Gauthier van Malderen, founder of Perlego
📍 Opportunities in tech
Applications
We’re welcoming applications for a number of our Accelerator programs. See below for details and deadlines:
Western Australia Nature Tech Accelerator (deadline February 14th)
Pico Media & Live Events Accelerator (deadline February 16th)
Blue Action Accelerator (deadline February 28th)
Jobs
We’re looking for an Entrepreneur-in-Residence to lead Project Delorean—our latest insurtech startup in our Aviva Venture Studio. Find out more here
Other
All Response Media have launched their TV Star Competition, giving startups a chance to win a fully-funded TV ad campaign worth £50K. Past winners include Calm, PensionBee, and Carwow—and this year, we’re on the judging panel. Find out more & apply here
Tech Nation, supported by Founders Factory, has just launched the annual UK Founder Survey, which will directly inform The Tech Nation Report 2025 (and your chance to win £1000 in cash, an exclusive invitation to the Future Fifty Forum, and a bumper startup support package for your business). Find out more & complete the survey here
See you next month 👋
Interested in reading more of the same? Check out the Founders Factory blog and previous newsletters.
Armada’s approach is smart, cutting drag without energy-hungry compressors is the kind of simple, effective solution we need more of. If we’re serious about decarbonizing, shipping can’t stay in the shadows. Curious to see what other startups are tackling this.