Crowley Maritime Corporation has partnered with Saildrone Inc., the emerging market leader in ocean data, ocean mapping, and maritime intelligence solutions, by participating in their $100m series C raise. The burgeoning relationship is valuable for the growing offshore wind sector, for which both Crowley and Saildrone are key service providers.

Saildrone Surveyor sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge toward Pacific Ocean
Saildrone Surveyor sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge toward Pacific Ocean

The strategic investment will be used to grow Saildrone’s data insight teams and scale go-to-market functions to meet the rapidly growing demand for ocean domain intelligence, and advances Crowley’s continued expansion into services that meet the needs of customers, partners and a more sustainable world.

“Crowley is proud to join Saildrone in advancing technology for gathering and analyzing climate, mapping and maritime security data for the benefit of our environment and communities,” said Tom Crowley, the company’s chairman and CEO. “Our investment advances Crowley’s strategy to develop growth in the next generation of industries that align innovation and value while leveraging renewable energy.”

An American owned and operated company founded in 2012, Saildrone’s mission is to sustainably explore, map and monitor the ocean, to understand, protect and preserve our world. Saildrone uncrewed surface vehicles (USV’s), predominantly powered by renewable energy, have a minimal carbon footprint and are equipped with advanced sensors and embedded ML/AI technology to deliver critical insights from any ocean, at any time of year.

“We are delighted to have Crowley join our team as a strategic investor” said Richard Jenkins, Saildrone founder and CEO. “Adding high utility ship capability, and a global marine service network to Saildrone operations is going to be transformational for our business. Likewise, there are many ML/AI technologies that we have evolved at Saildrone, that can be applied to regular vessel operations to help improve safety, such as through improved maritime domain awareness. We are looking forward to working together to accelerate these technologies.

Crowley’s partnership with Saildrone aligns with the company’s ambition to be the most sustainable and innovative maritime and logistics solutions company in the Americas by 2025. Saildrone’s products are based on data collected from a fleet of USV’s that are powered primarily by renewable wind and solar power. Saildrone USV’s are the most reliable uncrewed vehicles on the planet, sailing over 500,000 nautical miles and clocking more than 15,000 days at sea in some of the harshest conditions on the planet.