Sea Machines Robotics, a three-year-old Boston-based developer of self-driving boats, closed a $10 million Series A investment Monday.
The round was led by Accomplice, the VC firm with offices in Cambridge and San Francisco that's among the backers of Carbon Black and DraftKings, with participation from Eniac Ventures. Earlier this year, Eniac led the $2.6 million seed round of MIT-born artificial intelligence startup Legit.
Sea Machines will use the funds to grow the engineering and technology team and develop a new generation of products to modernize the commercial marine industry.
The marine industry could be the next frontier for autonomy, as self-driving boats help ship owners reduce high fuel and labor costs. According to Sea Machines, 15 large cargo ships use as much fuel as the entire car driving population.
In October, Sea Machines released its first line of autonomous command and remote control systems, developed for controlling vessels serving offshore commercial, scientific and government applications. The company is also developing an advanced perception and navigation assistance technology for container ships.
Next year, it plans to start testing its perception technology aboard one of Danish conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk’s container ships.
"Sea Machines is developing the technology that propels the future of the marine industries," said Founder and CEO Michael Johnson in a statement. "This investment enables the company to double down on its commitment to building products that are already making the industry more capable, productive and profitable."
The round brings the total capital raised by Sea Machines to $12.5 million. In an interview last year, Johnson said that Sea Machines will eventually play a role in making self-driving boat technology for recreational use.
