Xocean, an ocean data firm located in Louth, gathers information through the use of uncrewed surface boats. The company recently amassed €30 million in its most recent fundraising round. The brainchild of James Ives, the previous chief executive of OpenHydro, Xocean came into existence in 2017. The firm offers data collection services including environmental tracking and ocean floor examinations. During its Series B funding round on Tuesday, the firm announced that the funding, led by Venturewave Capital and co-funded by Endeavor Catalyst and Enterprise Ireland, was oversubscribed. The funding is slated to expedite Xocean’s global growth and spur further technological novelty. Xocean also managed to secure €20 million in venture-debt funding from the European Investment Bank as part of this round. The world’s blue economy is witnessing significant growth, bolstered by sectors such as offshore wind. Nevertheless, obtaining the data to facilitate this growth is challenging. To this end, Xocean has produced a fleet of uncrewed surface vessels capable of staying offshore for prolonged periods, amassing vast amounts of oceanic data. Operators and data analysts remain secure onshore, connected to the boats through a satellite connection, providing safer, budget-friendly, and incredibly low-impact ocean data provision. Notably, Xocean has offered its data to numerous top renewable energy companies worldwide, operating in 22 regions, and collected over 4 million gigabytes of data. This has aided the establishment of 43GWs of new offshore wind capacity. Xocean’s financial advice was provided by Venturebeam and Wallace Corporate Counsel.
