Only have 1 minute? Here are 3 takeaways from the piece
• Japan-based engineering giant Nabtesco became the primary shareholder in Greece-headquartered AI optimisation company DeepSea Technologies
• DeepSea will operate as a centre of excellence for AI research and product development
• The deal aims to further aid Nabtesco’s goal development of autonomous vessels and other AI applications in its business sectors
Founded in 2017 by the Oxford and Cambridge AI graduates Roberto Coustas and Konstantinos Kyriakopoulos, the Greek-based startup provides AI-based insights and optimization solutions to ship owners and charterers to help them reach their decarbonization goals.
DeepSea offers its users emissions and environmental compliance and supports them in conducting environmental and decarbonization reporting, performance indexing, and optimization of fuel spendings.
The platform also provides vessel optimization which deals with predictive alerting, automated reporting, and the provision of real-time data and performance analysis. With the collected data, the AI software platform helps users optimize their operations by offering them advanced performance routing.
Nabtesco has been an investor and shareholder in DeepSea since 2021, and the company will now become a part of Nabtesco Marine Control Systems Company in developing the platforms and tools required to achieve its goal of scalable semi-autonomous shipping.
“The combined offering will have a profound environmental impact – continuing to reduce fuel consumption with DeepSea’s platforms, whilst also focusing on the move towards the autonomous operation of marine vessels,” Nabtesco said in a press release.
It will also pursue AI-focused research and development covering the entire scope of Nabtesco’s activity, which extends beyond maritime, including wind turbines, rail and aviation automation and industrial robotics, the company said in a statement.
“Our joint objective is not to move towards autonomous ships, but to move towards optimally efficient ships (and increased autonomy is the way to get there). Practically, we will be combining our products to create a new breed of automation solution that will allow ships to be sailed optimally at all times – with exactly the right voyage plans to achieve their objectives. It will be a marriage of AI and hardware which will push the shipping industry forward into the leaner, greener future it desperately needs,” both companies told The Recursive in a statement.
“The deepening of our existing partnership with Nabtesco unlocks even greater potential for our technology and approach, and will be key to unlocking the next wave of innovation for our customers. It’s truly the best of both worlds: DeepSea will maintain its startup culture and focus on disruptive technology, whilst harnessing all the expertise and support of a global powerhouse. DeepSea’s CEO and co-founder Konstantinos Kyriakopoulos said in a statement.
DeepSea’s team has over 70 specialized engineers, mainly in the fields of AI and software development.
“This is a natural next step for DeepSea as we continue to grow, focusing our industry-leading team of AI specialists on solving some of the biggest challenges in shipping. Nabtesco and DeepSea want to remain one step ahead as the sector evolves – and this decision to move forwards together will allow our combined product offering to be unmatched,” the company’s co-founder and President and head of marketing development Roberto Coustas said in a statement.
According to Nabtesco, DeepSea is driving a radical improvement to vessel efficiency for their customers.
“Joining forces will enable us to progress even faster towards an exciting future of automation, both within maritime and beyond. We’re excited to announce this news and look forward to driving even greater value for our clients, within each of our market areas, through enhanced innovation and R&D,” Yukihiro Mizutani, President of Marine Control Systems Company, added.
