# Ulysses

> Ulysses is a San Francisco ocean-robotics company building low-cost, modular autonomous underwater vehicles that replace multimillion-dollar ships and human divers. Founded in 2023, it started by using robots to replant declining seagrass meadows 100x faster than volunteer divers, then extended the same modular platform to offshore wind surveys, subsea infrastructure inspection, and maritime security. Its flagship Mako AUV dives 5,000 feet for up to 72 hours and starts at roughly $50,000 - about 50x cheaper than legacy systems - and the company raised a $38M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz in April 2026.

- **Founded:** 2023
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founders:** Akhil Voorakkara (Co-founder & CEO), Jamie Wedderburn (Co-founder & CTO), Colm O'Brien (Co-founder), Will O'Brien (Co-founder)
- **Team size:** ~40 employees
- **Products:** Mako, Kraken, Leviathan, Seagrass restoration service
- **Notable:** Raised $46M total across seed and a $38M a16z-led Series A within roughly two years of founding., Built the Mako AUV at ~$50,000 - about 50x cheaper than comparable legacy underwater vehicles., Reported restoring seagrass up to 100x faster than manual volunteer diving.

## Products & services

- **Mako** — Flagship autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV): roughly 2 meters long, ~400 lb, 72-hour endurance, 5,000 ft depth rating, up to 200 lb payload, with modular swappable payloads and about 40x more subsea computing power than comparable vehicles. Base price around $50,000.
- **Kraken** — Autonomous launch, recovery, and recharge system that lets Mako vehicles execute remote missions with zero human intervention.
- **Leviathan** — Autonomous surface vessel being advanced from prototype toward production to support longer-range and multi-vehicle operations.
- **Seagrass restoration service** — Robotic seed-planting and harvesting for kilometer-scale seagrass meadow restoration, delivered as an outcome-based service to governments and conservation groups - reported at up to 100x the speed of manual volunteer diving.

## Achievements

- Raised $46M total across seed and a $38M a16z-led Series A within roughly two years of founding.
- Built the Mako AUV at ~$50,000 - about 50x cheaper than comparable legacy underwater vehicles.
- Reported restoring seagrass up to 100x faster than manual volunteer diving.
- Signed government partners across Florida and Australia plus the US Navy and The Nature Conservancy.
- Backed by Andreessen Horowitz's American Dynamism fund alongside Booz Allen Ventures and Lowercarbon Capital.

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Raised a $38M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz's American Dynamism fund, with Booz Allen Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, ReGen Ventures, Superorganism, and Harpoon Ventures participating - bringing total funding to about $46M.
- **2026-04** — Announced plans to scale the Mako AUV and move the Kraken recharge system and Leviathan surface vessel from prototype toward production, expanding into defense and offshore-energy markets.
- **2024-11** — Emerged from stealth, revealing autonomous robots that plant seagrass seeds and reporting nearly $1M in first-year revenue.

## Links

- Website: https://www.theoceancompany.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ulysses-inc
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/UlyssesInc

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/ulysses
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-10