Eagle-eyed patrons of a Siesta Key restaurant may notice an unassuming, 3-foot by 5-foot cylinder in the ocean. But beneath the surface — of both the ocean and contraption — could lay the key to helping improve the environment.
“I’m really passionate about bettering this place before you leave,” Todd Kleperis said. “I’m an Eagle Scout; you leave your campsite better than when you got it, and the ocean is a clear effort of that.”
Kleperis is the founder of Siesta Key-based TEKMARA, which uses technology to overhaul ocean conservation efforts through multiple fronts. He has one pod with ocean sensors powered by solar energy and will eventually become powered by wind and wave energy. The sensors collect coastal data that can be given to environmental agencies, like NOAA, and state agencies, like the Department of Agriculture, which can use the findings for their own efforts.
“I was in robotics on the ocean, and it was incredibly challenging because the government doesn’t typically have money to spend on red tide research, for example,” Kleperis said. “It’s a powerful tool to give to local agencies, but even better if you have a commercial enterprise.”
Enter the pods’ “ocean-grown” produce. It uses energy harnessed by the pods to grow things like leafy greens or giant mushrooms, which can then be sold to local restaurants. TEKMARA has done pilots with the Ritz-Carlton in Sarasota and high-end restaurant KOJO. Eventually, Kleperis hopes to grow produce specifically based on a restaurant’s needs.
“Imagine every dock in the state of Florida having this,” he said. “They can put it out there, save the environment, save the future with coastal data and make money since they can collect food off the pod.”
Kleperis acknowledges the pods and tech are attempting to tackle a lot. But he has an urgency for the project beyond attempting to repair the planet.
“I was on the ocean a long time ago and came back to it after a close personal friend passed away,” Kleperis said. “He owned a couple of marinas and was a champion of the ocean. I’m just doing this to make sure we can leave this planet better; we’re not doing that right now, we’re destroying it.”
TEKMARA — a mashup of “technology for tomorrow” — was founded in 2022. It is fully bootstrapped with four employees who are all remote. But Kleperis is planning to ramp up operations in the next month. He is raising a $2 million investment round, which he hopes will close in June. He plans to hire a CEO with the funding, and he will step into a COO position. He hopes to deploy more — and bigger — pods, going to an 8-foot by 8-foot and eventually a 10-foot by 10-foot structure.
Kleperis is a multi-time founder, most recently working on fintech startup Payzel and Hardcar, a transportation and distribution company for cannabis. But he plans to stick with his latest venture for the longer term.
“I would like to see it go to the right firm, but I don’t foresee myself exiting anytime soon,” he said. “We have to get the science right, do the right thing for the planet, and I won’t stop until that’s done.”
