Online Oceans Raises $5m for Maritime Defense Autonomous Surface Fleets

Online Oceans, a UK company building autonomous surface vessels and fleet software for defense and maritime security, has raised USD$5.4 million (£4 million) in funding led by Seraphim Space. The round also includes participation from investors, including Peter Rive, co-founder of SolarCity, Frank Thieser and Florian Seibel, founders of Quantum Systems, and Koro Capital.

At the center of the company’s offering is Scout, a compact solar-powered autonomous surface vessel designed for persistent deployment at scale. Scout is paired with Tether, Online Oceans’ cloud-based command-and-control platform, which allows operators to manage missions, monitor assets and access data in real time. Together, they give governments and commercial customers a practical way to move from occasional, high-cost missions to persistent maritime coverage at scale, while also creating the foundation for recurring software and data revenues.

Maritime security is becoming more urgent as governments and operators face rising pressure to protect critical waters, monitor strategic chokepoints and secure subsea infrastructure. Yet, persistent coverage remains prohibitively expensive with existing systems. Existing approaches rely on crewed vessels with high operating costs or autonomous systems too expensive to deploy in dense fleets, making coverage intermittent rather than continuous. Online Oceans has designed its system from the outset around a different model: low unit cost, long endurance and continuous connectivity, combined in a platform built for fleet-scale deployment rather than one-off missions.

Online Oceans was founded in early 2025 by George Morton and Alistair Douglas. George brings maritime engineering and defense-adjacent operating experience, while Alistair leads the company’s command-and-control software and fleet systems. Together, they have moved from first builds to production ramp in little over a year.

The company has already secured initial customers across defense, maritime domain awareness and ocean data, begun first data sales, and sold out the first few months of production ahead of commercial deliveries in April 2026.

The new funding will be used to scale manufacturing, support deployments and expand the company’s ability to serve growing demand across defense and commercial markets. Online Oceans is building from Europe, where the strategic need for persistent maritime monitoring is especially acute, but the company’s ambition is global: to become a leader in persistent maritime infrastructure.