Nelson and Freddie Mills, founders of Vatn Systems, spent their childhoods sailing across the turquoise waters of a yacht off the Caribbean islands and doing homework. Although their surroundings were idyllic, the ship they chose was clearly not. “The first boat I remember, I think my parents bought it for about five or ten grand,” Freddie said. “There was no refrigerator. It was leaking.”
However, the unreliable ship turned out to be the perfect place to train future engineers. The brothers, who spent several months each year on a yacht, would occasionally forget their homework and pick up a wrench to help their father with mechanical solutions to his jerry rig. “We didn't have enough money to rebuild the engine, so my dad and I and Nelson came up with the idea,” Freddie said.
After years spent on the water, the brothers are now setting their ambitions just below the surface. Last year, the pair teamed up with engineer Jeff Manchester and former Special Forces dive team officer Dan Hendricks to form Vatton Systems, a startup that builds autonomous underwater vehicles primarily for defense use. On Tuesday, the Portsmouth, Rhode Island-based company announced a $13 million seed round led by DYNE Ventures with participation from Lockheed Martin Ventures, RTX Ventures, In-Q-Tel and others. This round brings the startup's total funding to $16.5 million.
The company's vehicles (the first prototype weighs about 50 pounds) can swim up to 300 meters underwater and carry weapons such as torpedoes. The vehicle also has other uses, such as transmitting messages between ships in areas where signals are blocked by the enemy. To do this, a series of Vaton vehicles take up positions autonomously and transmit data to the ship through the lines of the drone, and the communication takes place outside the enemy's line of sight. “Our ultimate goal is to become the prime of underwater autonomy,” Nelson said.
Freddie and Nelson Mills, co-founders of Vatn Systems; Image credits: Courtesy of Freddie Mills and Nelson Mills
Vatn also plans to take advantage of the Pentagon's current focus on swarm technology: swarms of unmanned aircraft that can be operated by one service member at a time. There are many startups building aerial drone swarms, but Vatn wants to be the government's answer to underwater drone swarms. Currently, one user can operate around 10 Vatn vehicles. “We'll end up with a few hundred people,” Nelson said.
Vatn will face well-capitalized competition. Defense giant Northrop Grumman has developed its own underwater vehicle prototype, the Manta Ray, and the Pentagon has selected defense startup Anduril to continue manufacturing its own autonomous underwater equipment. Nelson argued that Vatton aims to make its vehicles cheaper and easier to mass produce than its competitors.
The brothers have a long road ahead of them, expanding their team of 18 people and entering the market in 2025. But by setting up shop in Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay, the duo ensured they never strayed too far from their ocean fishing roots. “I'm looking at my sailboat right now,” Freddie said with a smile as he looked out onto the docks next to Watton's office.