Beginning of April, the Nautilus team announced a big milestone: We’ve closed a Series A financing of $11M led by M12 (Microsoft’s Venture Arm) and Root Ventures. Bloomberg broke the news in an article titled “Microsoft Joins Tech Race To Clean Up Shipping With Big Data.”
Existing and new investors including Quiet Capital, Trail Mix Ventures, and Amplifier participated in the round, which brings our total funding raised to $14.5M.
We founded Nautilus in 2016 to advance the efficiency of maritime shipping and build a more sustainable future for ocean commerce. Responsible for 90% of the world’s trade, ocean shipping consumes more than $100 billion in fuel every year. Left unchecked, it will account for 20% of global greenhouse emissions by 2050. Lightly regulated and often overlooked, the industry relies primarily on manual and error-prone forms of reporting to measure fuel consumption and vessel performance.
Nautilus provides the technology platform for shipping companies to run their fleets more efficiently. We do that by aggregating data from on board the ship and combining it with meteorological, oceanographic, and commercial data to build a comprehensive fleet profile. Through machine learning and artificial intelligence, our platform provides real-time analytics, alerts, and decision support for operators. This allows shipping companies to minimize fuel consumption, maximize operational efficiency, and ultimately optimize fleet performance over time.
Matt Heider, our CEO, says: “Nautilus is creating an economic imperative for shipping businesses to reduce their fuel consumption. Think of us as the artificially intelligent first mate that helps the captain and the crew to always take the profit-maximizing (and fuel-reducing) decision. Over thousands of voyages for hundreds of ships, we’re able to generate meaningful savings while bringing transparency and accountability to the industry.”
Matt Goldstein, partner at M12, says: “By applying machine learning and artificial intelligence to ocean commerce, Nautilus is upending traditional maritime shipping inefficiencies as it builds towards supporting a more sustainable global trade environment. We are proud supporters of the Nautilus team’s mission and believe they possess the tools and experience needed to digitize one of the world’s oldest industries.”
So far, we’ve partnered with several fleets, including Teekay, Dorian LPG, Eagle Bulk, and Tote Services. They’ve helped us prove that we can reduce fuel emissions by over 10% in a single voyage, and savings of up to 30% with wider deployment.
With the Series A funding, we will continue to invest in developing deeper predictive decision support for shoreside teams and crews. We’re also planning to triple in size over the next year, investing in engineering, data science, and product development. Join us!
