A group of maritime tech founders has launched a new group to advocate for industry changes to reduce friction for innovation and boost resources for start-ups facing go-to-market hurdles.
Ocean Founders will run a mix of closed-door and public meetings with start-up founders, to shed light on hurdles obstructing innovation in the sector. An annual report capturing the state of maritime tech will also be published.
The group was created by Greywing Co-founders Nick Clarke and Hrishi Olickel, Portcast founder Nidhi Gupta, and Shipskart Co-founder Dhruv Sawhney, supported by the Motion Ventures Alliance of corporate executives and other industry stakeholders.
Venture capital firm Motion Ventures is an investor in Greywing and Shipskart, and was involved in the Pier71 accelerator in Singapore that Portcast has participated in.
“The maritime value chain is too complex for a single actor to innovate alone,” said Nick Clarke, Chief Executive Officer at Greywing.
“While ecosystem support services are developing around us, the voices of founders on the front lines of innovation are still being overlooked. Launching Ocean Founders is our collective effort to advocate for what’s really needed to bring barriers down so the industry at large can make progress to really innovate.”
Ocean Founders says it will be open to emerging or future company founders in the industry, such as current maritime corporate employees or interested entrepreneurial students, with the aim of engaging with the talent pipeline from an early stage to increase the number of quality operators in the ecosystem.
“Ocean Founders gives the maritime industry a major opportunity to hear from the heart of innovation. Start-ups will have a platform to voice out what’s obstructing innovation while connecting with ready-to-disrupt corporates who want to be clued into the industry’s next frontier,” said Shaun Hon, Founder and General Partner at Motion Ventures.
