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A new shipbuilding startup called Blue Water Autonomy has emerged from stealth with the promise of developing captain-less naval ships.<\/p>\n
The Boston, Massachusetts-based company has raised a $14 million seed round from Eclipse, Riot, and Impatient Ventures. The startup was founded in 2024 by former members of the U.S. Navy, leaders of Amazon Robotics, and iRobot.<\/p>\n
Blue Water Autonomy joins an ever-growing list of startups that are taking advantage of a splurge in defense investment. Defense tech funding set a new record in 2024<\/a>, led by Anduril\u2019s $1.5 billion Series F round and Saronic \u2014 another autonomous maritime startup that notched a $175 million Series B.<\/p>\n The startup says it has developed a full-stack autonomy suite and concept ship designs in \u201cunder a year.\u201d It\u2019s already salt-water testing a 100-ton autonomous test vessel just outside of Boston, a spokesperson for the company told TechCrunch. <\/p>\n The seed funding will help Blue Water Autonomy expand its engineering team and accelerate testing, according to a release<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cNo other company is tackling this problem at the ship level like Blue Water,\u201d Seth Winterroth, a partner at Eclipse, said in a statement. \u201cThe team is a rare combination of roboticists and Navy veterans that positions them to be a critical partner to the Navy, the entire Department of Defense, and will have a major impact on the maritime industry.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n