maritime-intelligence
(5)
Bearing AI
Bearing AI is a Palo Alto-based maritime technology company that builds AI models to predict and optimize how ships perform at sea. By combining real-world vessel sensor data, satellite positioning and weather with deep learning, its platform forecasts fuel consumption, emissions, fleet deployment and market conditions - helping shipping companies cut carbon output, comply with tightening emissions rules like CII, and make better operational decisions. Founded in 2019 by Dylan Keil and David Liu and backed by Andrew Ng's AI Fund and Mitsui & Co., Bearing counts leading carriers such as 'K' Line, Hapag-Lloyd and IINO Lines among its users.
Valtec
Valtec is a San Diego-founded maritime intelligence company turning ocean data into real-time decisions. Its Larus VTOL fixed-wing hybrid drone launches straight off moving fishing vessels - no runway, no shore infrastructure - and its Fulcan AI vision stack reads the water below for fish, vessels and threats. Built first for commercial tuna fleets in Taiwan and the Philippines, Valtec's pitch is blunt: cut a month at sea down to two weeks, burn less fuel, and see what's happening in waters no one else is watching.
Quartermaster
Quartermaster is an Arlington, Virginia maritime intelligence company turning ordinary working ships into a distributed sensing network. Its weather-hardened SmartMast hardware - cameras, radios, satellite links and onboard AI - mounts to vessel masts and streams real-time HD video, geolocation and threat alerts back to a central analytics platform. The result is a live, continuously updated picture of global ocean activity that does not depend on the easily spoofed AIS transponders ships can simply switch off. Backed by a $43M Series A co-led by First Round Capital and Quiet Capital, Quartermaster already runs on more than 600 vessels across 25 countries.
Neil Sobin
Neil Sobin is the founder and CEO of Quartermaster, an Arlington, Virginia company turning working ships into sensing nodes for a global maritime intelligence network. Its SmartMast hardware bolts weather-hardened cameras and radios onto vessel masts, runs AI at the edge, and stitches the feeds into a live picture of the open ocean. After building distributed networks at Hivemapper and AI infrastructure at Scale AI, Sobin raised a $43M Series A in May 2026 co-led by First Round Capital and Quiet Capital, with more than 600 vessels already covering 10 million square miles and assisting 20-plus rescues.
John Keh
John Keh is the Founder and CEO of Valtec, a San Diego-based maritime AI and drone company that deploys autonomous VTOL systems on commercial fishing vessels to detect tuna schools in real time. A UC Berkeley alumnus and former US Air Force geospatial intelligence analyst with 250+ missions across South Korea and the Middle East, Keh pivoted from food delivery (3rd employee at Caviar, Uber Eats courier intelligence lead) to maritime defense after four years building startups in Taiwan. Valtec raised a $2M pre-seed round in March 2025 backed by SparkLabs Taiwan, Wavemaker VC, DRONE FUND, Guitar Hero founder Kai Huang, and Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, with the company's Larus VTOL drone and Fulcan AI platform now deployed on 40+ fishing vessels across Taiwan and the Philippines.