£4 Million Raised to Scale Autonomous Maritime Fleets & Security Systems

Online Oceans has successfully raised £4 million in a funding round led by Seraphim Space to expand the manufacturing of its autonomous surface vessels and command software.

The investment includes participation from Koro Capital and high-profile individuals such as Peter Rive, co-founder of SolarCity, and Quantum Systems founders Frank Thieser and Florian Seibel. These funds are earmarked for scaling production and supporting global deployments as the company addresses the growing demand for persistent maritime monitoring across defence and commercial sectors.

Founded in early 2025 by George Morton and Alistair Douglas, the company focuses on a low-unit-cost model for continuous maritime coverage. The core offering consists of Scout, a compact solar-powered autonomous surface vessel, and Tether, a cloud-based command-and-control platform. This combination allows operators to manage dense fleets for missions ranging from anti-submarine warfare and border security to the protection of subsea infrastructure.

Current maritime security often relies on expensive crewed vessels or autonomous systems that are too costly for large-scale deployment. Online Oceans aims to shift this paradigm by providing long-endurance, always-connected fleets capable of monitoring multiple strategic locations simultaneously. The company has already moved from its initial builds to a production ramp in just over a year, securing customers in maritime domain awareness and ocean data.

George Morton, Founder and CEO of Online Oceans, commented, “Persistent maritime coverage has been too expensive for too long. That has limited what governments and operators can actually see, protect and respond to at sea. We built Online Oceans to change that. This funding allows us to scale production and support customers who need a far more practical way to monitor critical waters, protect infrastructure and maintain awareness over long periods.”

Commercial deliveries are set to begin in April 2026, with the first months of production already sold out. The new capital will allow the firm to scale manufacturing and expand its ability to serve international demand while building from its European base.

Maureen Haverty, Investment Principal at Seraphim Space, said, “Online Oceans is building a category-defining company at the intersection of defence, maritime autonomy and data. The breakthrough here is not just a lower-cost vessel. It is a new coverage model: dense, persistent fleets that can monitor critical waters continuously rather than sporadically. What impressed us was not just the technical insight, but the speed of execution. In little over a year, the team has moved from founding to production ramp, early customer traction and first data sales. We believe they have the potential to build a global leader in this category. ”