If you thought autonomous driving was just for cars, think again. The “autonomous navigation” market — where ships steer themselves guided by AI, resulting in fuel and time savings — is projected to grow from $4.46 billion in 2023 to $5.33 billion in 2024 alone.
Orca AI is a London-based startup that claims to have powered the world’s first autonomous commercial ship voyage in congested waters. It’s now added $23 million in fresh funding, led by OCV Partners and MizMaa Ventures. The funding, which we’re told is between a Series A and Series B, takes its total raised to nearly $40 million.
The startup was founded at the end of 2018 and went on to launch its AI navigation tech commercially in 2021 — when it also raised a $13 million Series A. The latest funding injection will be used for scaling and expansion, the company told TechCrunch, and to invest in building new products — drawing on data the platform is ingesting from clients. Expanding its engineering team is also in the cards.
Founded by Israeli naval technology experts Yarden Gross and Dor Raviv, Orca AI processes multiple sources of visual information during navigation at sea, keeping the ship on course and freeing up the crew to monitor other aspects of the voyage, such as drone attacks and piracy, which are occurring in increasingly unstable geopolitical times.
Citing results from a 2023 trial, Orca claims its system is so accurate it was able to reduce “close encounters in open waters” by 33% and “crossing events” by 40% across 15 million nautical miles. (For some context, there were over 2,500 significant marine incidents in 2022, according to a European Maritime Safety Agency report.)
It also claims the system can yield $100,000 to $300,000 in fuel savings per vessel per year (reducing fuel consumption by 3% to 5%). Additionally, Orca AI suggests its tech achieved a CO2 reduction of 72,716 tons across 1,000 vessels last year.
Shipping is under pressure to reduce its carbon footprint — creating opportunities for entrepreneurs to digitize the industry and apply technologies like AI to boost efficiency.