Israeli autonomous shipping startup, Orca AI, raised $23 million in a Series B funding round, led by OCV Partners and Mizmaa Ventures, with participation from Ankona Capital Partners, Santa Barbara Venture Partners, Playfair Capital, and other strategic investors.
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AI-powered maritime navigation safety platform enhancing situational awareness for crews.
- Founded
- 2018
- Location
- Haifa, Israel
- Funding
- $112M
Orca AI integrates autonomous operational and voyage features into existing vessels. In 2022, it powered the world's first autonomous commercial ship voyage with NYK and is now gearing up for the next phase of fully autonomous ship technology set to debut in 2025.
Founded in 2018 by Yarden Gross and Dor Raviv, Orca AI’s platform enhances voyage safety, operational efficiency, and sustainability for ships and fleets. Upfitting vessels with an automated watchkeeper that processes multiple sources of visual information during sea navigation, it enhances human watchkeeping in complex marine traffic scenarios, in real-time.
In 2023, Orca AI partnered with major global shipping companies including MSC, NYK, Maersk, and Seaspan, reducing close encounters by 33% and crossing events by 40% over 15 million nautical miles. This partnership is particularly significant considering there were over 2,500 major marine incidents in the same year.
Orca AI's autonomous shipping technology detects and alerts crews to high-risk marine targets, optimizing operations to avoid unnecessary maneuvers and speed drops, thereby reducing fuel consumption and emissions. This has led to an average annual fuel savings of $100,000 to $300,000 per vessel (a 3-5% reduction) and a reduction of 172 thousand tonnes of CO2 emissions last year.