The new fund will invest in early stage, climate-focused, ocean-based science and technology startups.

Climate-tech fund Propeller announced its raise of a $100 million fund to support startups aiming to solve the climate crisis by innovating planet-saving, ocean-based science and technology solutions. The fund is launched in partnership with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a private, non-profit organization established in 1930, on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and dedicated to marine research, engineering, and higher education. (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Addressing a $2.5 trillion blue economy described as “surging markets that exist at the intersection of the climate crisis and ocean innovation,” the fund will invest in three pillars that ensure sustainability of our oceans:

• Ocean Carbon – companies developing ocean carbon dioxide removal and blue carbon methodologies and technologies for measurement, reporting, and verification;
• Ocean Organics – entities discovering innovative uses of marine organics such as algae and microbes for novel energy, packaging, pharmaceutical applications; and
• Ocean Industrials – enterprising startups decarbonizing or improving efficiency in maritime industries like shipping, wave energy, offshore wind, and desalination.

“Our ocean holds tremendous potential for scaling up climate and carbon solutions, yet only a fraction of the venture capital dollars that have flooded into climate tech flow to the seascape of ocean-based solutions,” said Brian Halligan, founder of Propeller. “The Propeller team together with our partners at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution launched this fund to change this dynamic – to invest in the planet’s best hope to decarbonize the global economy and turn today’s ocean startups into tomorrow’s ‘narwhals’.”

Narwhals are the ocean-going version of ‘unicorns’, or startups with a valuation in excess of $1 billion.

“This is a critical time for the ocean. There is an urgent need to accelerate ocean discovery, exploration, and technology and sustain precious ocean ecosystems for the benefit of humanity and the health of our planet as a whole,” said Dr. Peter de Menocal, president and director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

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