Seaweed punches above its weight. Although marine plants make up only 0.1% of the ocean floor, they are thought to support marine ecosystems of plants and fish, filter seawater, and capture significant amounts of carbon. Climate change and other factors are also destroying seagrasses, with a 7% decline in pastureland each year around the world. Ulysses Ecosystem Engineering wants to restore it.
Ulysses' autonomous robot can be loaded with seeds and programmed to go to specific spots on the ocean floor and plant seagrass. Akhil Voorakkara, co-founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Ulysses, told TechCrunch that the robots they built can be used to plant grass seeds by hand compared to volunteers planting grass seeds by hand. , said they were able to speed up repairs by 100 times. Cost of other robots.
Current chief technology officer Jamie Wedderburn came up with the idea for the company in early 2023 during a surfing trip to the west coast of Scotland with friends. One of his friends told of a recent terrible volunteer experience planting seagrass on a particularly harsh day. Scottish weather. More than 40 volunteers struggled to plant seaweed, only to have it uprooted in the rough environment.
Wedderburn didn't know about the importance of seagrass, so hearing this story felt like falling down a rabbit hole. He thought there must be a way to improve such processes using technology. Wedderburn pitched the idea to Voorakara, but he too fell down the same rabbit hole. The company's other two co-founders, Colm O'Brien and Will O'Brien, had similar reactions.
“It turned out to be interesting right away,” Will O'Brien told TechCrunch. “The opportunity to build a mission-driven company that works primarily in the ocean and focuses on nature and biodiversity was also very appealing to me.As a child, My hero was Steve Irwin.”
Voorakkara said none of the team had any experience in marine biology, but they had experience building robots, so they decided to pursue the problem by building a robot. They quickly created a 3D prototype, which was not waterproof and leaked when used, but it worked well enough for injecting sesame seeds, showing that there was something there. Once a conviction was obtained, they sought professional help.
“None of us are marine biologists,” Voorakala says. “You don't get anything if you don't ask. We asked the top people working on seagrass restoration for help and advice very early on to make sure it wasn't crazy. They They were very excited about what we were doing and very eager to work with us.”
Ulysses launched in early 2024 and has since generated nearly $1 million in revenue from both private companies and government agencies. The startup also partners with multiple government agencies in places like Florida and Australia on large-scale restoration projects.
The startup has now come out of stealth and announced a $2 million pre-seed funding round led by Lowercarbon Capital, with participation from VC firms Superorganism and ReGen Ventures, in addition to angel investors. Voorakkara said the startup plans to use the funding to strengthen its five-person team with additional engineers and talent to focus on go-to-market strategy.
Timing is critical for Ulysses, as many governments place increased emphasis and urgency on seagrass meadow restoration. Earlier this year, the European Union passed new regulations that focus on restoring a variety of habitats by 2030 and 2050, with special designation for seagrasses.
Voorakkara said the company plans to test new capabilities this month for the robot, which can harvest seeds from approved seagrass beds and plant those seeds where they are needed.
Seagrass is now the company's main focus, but they think it's just the beginning. O'Brien said the technology is actually an autonomous drone connected to the main platform and can be extended to other areas such as coastal management, coast guarding and other types of remediation.
“The ocean is truly humanity's frontier, and it is a largely underexplored frontier,” O'Brien said. “There aren't that many new technical solutions because it's a very difficult area of dealing with flows. [it’s] Having all these things can be very unforgiving. [We want to] Bringing SpaceX-level innovation to this new area here on Earth. ”
Other companies are also considering developing underwater robots. Terra Depth is a company that has raised over $30 million in VC to focus on mapping the ocean floor for both commercial and government goals. Ayrme is another Norwegian town focused on ocean discovery.
“In five years, we want to manage hundreds of kilometers of coastline, not just restore seagrass,” Voorakala said. “We want to strengthen groups like NOAA. [United States] The Coast Guard and all those who serve the ocean and work to protect it with more efficient homes. ”