Louth-based ocean data company Xocean, which uses uncrewed surface vessels to collect information, has raised €30 million in its latest funding round.
The company, founded by former OpenHydro chief executive James Ives in 2017, provides data collection solutions such as environmental monitoring and seabed surveys.
It said on Tuesday the Series B funding round was oversubscribed and led by Venturewave Capital with co-investors including Endeavor Catalyst and Enterprise Ireland.
It said the funding will accelerate the company’s international growth and drive further technical innovation. As part of this round, Xocean secured €20 million in venture-debt funding from the European Investment Bank.
The global blue economy is experiencing substantial growth driven by industries such as offshore wind. However, the data to support this growth is difficult to acquire.
Xocean has developed a fleet of uncrewed surface vessels that can remain offshore for extended periods, collecting large volumes of ocean data.
Operators and data analysts remain safely located onshore, connected to the vessels via satellite link. This approach to ocean data delivery is safer, cost-effective, and ultra-low impact.
The company has delivered data to many of the world’s largest renewable energy companies, operating in 22 jurisdictions, harvesting over 4 million gigabytes of data. This data has supported the development of 43GWs of new offshore wind capacity.
Venturebeam and Wallace Corporate Counsel acted as financial advisors to Xocean.
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