Autonomous transportation startup Orca AI receives $23 million led by OCV Partners and MizMaa Ventures

If you thought autonomous driving was just for cars, think again. The so-called “autonomous navigation” market – where ships steer themselves using AI, saving fuel and time – is expected to grow from $4.46 billion in 2023 to $5.33 billion dollars in 2024 alone.

Orca AI is a London-based startup that claims to have powered the world’s first autonomous commercial vessel to travel in congested waters. New funding of $23 million is now being added, led by OCV Partners and MizMaa Ventures. The funding, which we’re told is between Series A and B, brings the total amount raised to almost $40 million.

The startup was founded in late 2018 and later commercially launched its AI navigation technology in 2021 – when it also raised a $13 million Series A round. The latest injection of funding will be used for scaling and expansion, she told TechCrunch, and to invest in creating new products, drawing on the data the platform ingests from client. The expansion of its engineering team is also on the agenda.

Founded by Israeli naval technology experts Yarden Gross and Dor Raviv, the Orca AI platform processes multiple sources of visual information while sailing at sea, keeping the ship on course and freeing the crew to monitor others aspects of travel, such as – increasingly in unstable geopolitical times – drone attacks and piracy.

Citing results from a 2023 trial, Orca claims its system is so precise that it was able to reduce “open water close encounters” by 33% and “crossing events” by 40% across 15 million nautical miles. (For some context, there were more than 2,500 significant maritime incidents in 2022, according to a report by the European Maritime Safety Agency.)

He also claims the system can generate between $100,000 and $300,000 in fuel savings per vessel per year (3-5% reduction in fuel consumption). Additionally, Orca AI suggests that its technology helped reduce CO2 emissions by 72,716 tonnes across 1,000 ships 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 increase efficiency.

While conditions that can be difficult and dangerous for seafarers, with a growing range of threats affecting global shipping routes, are creating conditions that could lead to increasing automation of crews.

In a call with TechCrunch, Gross, CEO and co-founder of Orca AI, said: “When you talk about ocean-going ships, we are going to see, in the near future, ships sailing without any crew. In the meantime, you can optimize and automate many parts of the journey, reducing the workload, as well as the number of people. You can optimize fuel consumption, emissions, ETA (estimated time of arrival) and increase safety at the same time. So that’s what we’re building. We are building a platform that serves the ship itself.

Gross said Orca’s platform uploads all data to the cloud, providing monitoring tools and capabilities to fleet managers. “This means they can operate not just one ship, but the entire fleet. We can therefore envisage it as an operational platform for a semi-autonomous fleet.

In a supportive statement, OCV Managing Partner Hemi Zucker added: “Shipping is the lifeblood of international trade and the global economy. More than 80% of international merchandise trade volume is transported by sea, a $2 trillion market by some estimates. While planes, trains, and automobiles have seen tremendous advancements and investments in autopilot and collision avoidance, we believe the shipping industry is still up for grabs and a defining opportunity exists in the category of autonomous ships – ships where the captain is himself the captain.

Orca AI works with global shipping companies including MSC, NYK, Maersk and Seaspan.

Other companies working on autonomous navigation at sea include Avikus, a subsidiary of Hyundai HD; and marine machinery.