Join this year’s founders as they share their progress to investors, industry, government, academic, and community leaders.

Founders participating in the Blue Ventures Innovation Accelerator, the Seattle Incubator, and the Tacoma Incubator are invited to exhibit and pitch at our annual showcase event.

Come learn about the latest innovations in Maritime & Ocean technology through startup pitches, presentations, speaker panels, and a networking lunch.

Keynote Speaker

Admiral Tim Gallaudet, US Navy (ret)

Admiral Gallaudet served as the acting Administrator of NOAA and Under Secretary of Commerce during President Trump’s term. Before that, he served in the US Navy for 32 years as an oceanographer, and now he’s a consultant for a few dozen tech startups.

Panel Discussion

Surfing the “Dual Use” Wave: Where Defense and Ocean Innovation Converge in the Pacific Northwest

Simon Geerlofs

PNNL

Participating Startups

Tailored for venture-scale companies, Maritime Blue’s immersive, four-month, mentor-based program supports startups with a dedicated team and either pre-market or post-market readiness. The Accelerator provides $100K equity investment by a SAFE Note and focuses on scaling solutions through intensive support, mentorship, and industry access.

Cellulotech – Co-Founder & CEO – Romain Metivet

cellulotech.com

Our bio-based molecular grafting approach allows us to protect cellulosic materials such as paper, cotton, cardboard etc. at a cost that is lower than any coating, without any harmful material while having a fully recyclable product currbside. It also allows us to offer unique properties to such materials, allowing us to develop new applications with natural fiber-based materials in healthcare, environmental remediation, water desalination and many more applications. 

Dolphin Labs – CEO – Rolle Hogan

 dolphinlabs.tech

Dolphin Labs technology uses ocean waves to power ocean monitoring systems such as AUVs and sensors . Their product, xNode wave energy converter, generates persistent, renewable electricity to enable remote ocean sensing networks, subsea microgrids and communications.

{E-LIXR} – Co-Founder & CEO – Sam Payrovi

elixr.miami

{E-LIXR} is a platform aggregating and building a network of waterborne transportation operators who together, with the logistical, operational, regulatory, marketing, and financing support provided by {E-LIXR}, will offer a combination of on-demand water taxi and scheduled ferry services as a single nationwide platform.

Marine Situ – President & Co-Founder – James Joslin, PhD

marinesitu.com

MarineSitu cuts marine monitoring and operational costs in half by helping marine industries reliably see and hear underwater using affordable and proven integrated instrumentation systems: we combine our field tested hardware of cameras, sonar, and other sensors with streamlined software powered by advanced data architecture and machine learning automation.

A one-year, free program is housed in the Blue Hub located at Fishermen’s Terminal and allows founders to learn how to take their concept and early-stage companies to the next level.

OCTO – Founder & President – John Davis 

octogroup.org

OCTO connects ocean professionals to the knowledge and networks they need, with over 100,000 customers in 120 countries. (This application to the Seattle Maritime Incubator is for a new project that will spin off from OCTO as its own venture.)

Pacific Kelp Co. – Co-Founders, John Smet & Nick Stern

pacifickelp.co     

We cultivate Alaskan Giant Kelp (Macrocystis Pyrfiera), the largest and fastest growing species of kelp on the planet. Kelp needs no fertilizers, fresh water, pesticides, or land to grow. As it grows, it sequesters CO2 and excess nutrients–significantly more than even rainforests. It is a habitat for marine life and improves environments wherever it grows, helping to fight the effects of ocean acidification. Our high-quality and sustainable Alaskan Giant Kelp is transformed into liquid kelp extracts that improve crop and plant health, along with rich and moisturizing kelp based cosmetic products.

PRAXSEAS – Co-founders, Brantlee & Jonathan Connell

PRAXSEAS is a closed-loop recycling and manufacturing enterprise, creating profit from recycled and new materials and products, while focusing on marine ecosystem restoration, trade support, and prevention of pollution and collision in our waterways and oceans. In further second and third stage iterations we additionally pyrolytically convert collected ground fiberglass into carbon for enhanced concrete and eventually on into graphite for sale to battery manufacturers. This pyrolysis process casues the fiberglass to emit Methane – which can be harvested as heat or gas. In a third iteration this waste heat could be utilized to underwrite the significant heating costs of a virgin carbon fiber production line powered by waste fiberglass. Solving a huge problem by building a high technology future.

RAMP Robotics – Richard Argall, Don Lasser, Reeve Hicks

ramp-robotics.com

RAMP Robotics Inc. tackles the high costs and environmental constraints of conventional offshore anchoring methods, which often render projects in hard or mixed seabeds economically unviable. These projects typically demand expensive anchoring systems, specialized high-cost vessels, heavy equipment, and lengthy installation timelines. The Remote Anchoring Micro Piler (RAMP) is an enabling technology that redefines this model by delivering a cost-effective, high-strength anchoring solution deployable from lower-cost vessels of opportunity, capable of meeting load requirements across all seabed types, including the most challenging conditions. RAMP lowers installed costs and unlocks development at difficult sites, creating new opportunities for renewable energy, aquaculture, and other marine industries to drive sustainable growth across a broader range of ocean environments.

Tini Scientific – Co-Founder/CEO, Kim Martini & Co-Founder/CMO, Virginia Schutte

tiniscientific.com

Tini Scientific is building software that will crowdsource ocean data from smartwatches. Our techniques let us truly scale ocean sensor networks, creating powerful, low-cost tools for environmental monitoring and forecasting. Our products make science accessible to non-specialists, giving coastal visitors, residents, businesses, and decision-makers meaningful data to better understand the ocean on their terms.

With a steering committee comprising the City of Tacoma, Port of Tacoma, Tacoma Power, UW-Tacoma and more, this program offers support, programming, mentorship and office and lab space at the Center for Urban Waters on the Tacoma Tideflats.

AERONAUTICA – Founder & CEO – Russ Higgins

Aeronautica provides vessel operators with real-time maps of objects in the water, including logs, debris, and some marine life. This helps operators avoid costly impacts with marine debis and remain compliant with local laws regarding separation distance to some whales.  Aeronautica provides this data service by scanning high-traffic waterways with drones equipped with suitable cameras, processes the imagery to detect and classify objects in the water, maps those objects, and estimates the change in location of those objects between scans. Aeronautica’s data products can be integrated into third party apps and commercial ECDIS systems.

Corumat – Founder & CEO – Mike Waggoner

corumat.com

Corumat produces microwave-safe, impact-resistant packaging that uses just one-third the material of traditional alternatives thanks to a patented manufacturing process protected by six granted patents. Our lightweight, high-performance structure reduces costs and environmental impact without sacrificing durability or usability. We’ve already completed $700,000 in pilot orders for major corporations, demonstrating both market demand and manufacturing readiness. Uniquely, the presence of Corumat packaging in a waste stream can actually make it profitable to sort trash—unlocking value by enabling recovery of high-quality materials and supporting the economics of low-carbon fuel and recycling systems.

Fairlead Marine – Founder & CEO – Jesse Long

fairleadmarine.com

At Fairlead Marine, we are flipping the script on vessel manufacturing—making it cleaner, lighter, smarter, and circular. From autonomous vessels to commercial watercraft, we are lightweighting at every stage, redefining how vessels are built, perform and what they can achieve. By leveraging high-performance, advanced composites, we’re setting a new standard in marine innovation, efficiency and accelerating vessel capabilities.