XOCEAN Secures €115M To Expand Ocean Data Platform
XOCEAN Secures €115M To Expand Ocean Data Platform

XOCEAN, the leading provider of ocean data services for offshore energy and civil hydrography, has closed a funding round with €115 million. S2G Ventures, Climate Investment, Morgan Stanley's 1GT fund, and CC Industries (CCI) led the investment. The funding will play a crucial role in XOCEAN's global expansion and product innovation, allowing the company to pursue its mission of delivering high-quality, low-carbon ocean data solutions.
This strategic investment focuses on pushing the company's growth as the blue economy continues to grow at such a fast rate. Industries including offshore wind, carbon capture and storage (CCUS), asset integrity management, and civil hydrography all develop with increased needs for reliable and efficient data solutions. The business is thus optimally placed for growth with this blue economy development, particularly onshore and off-shore wind energy. Offshore wind energy alone is expected to grow by more than 500%, reaching 250 GW excluding China, by 2035, which means an enormous opportunity for XOCEAN to support the energy transition.
James Ives, Founder and CEO of XOCEAN, expressed his excitement about the funding, emphasizing that the company’s mission is to provide data that contributes to the sustainable development of oceans in a cost-effective, safe, and low-impact manner. He welcomed the support from S2G Ventures, Climate Investment, Morgan Stanley, and CCI, viewing it as an exciting step toward realizing XOCEAN’s ambitious goals.
Since its inception in 2017, XOCEAN has been in the forefront of using USVs to collect critical ocean data. The USVs are constructed to run autonomously. Moreover, they have better sensors and real-time communication systems to ensure high-quality data collection. The low-carbon design of the fleet is a significant selling point, with only 0.1% of the CO2 produced when compared to manned vessels. This drastic cut in emissions aligns with the vision of XOCEAN in avoiding millions of tons of CO2 emissions over the next decade, thereby ensuring a greener and more sustainable future for ocean exploration.
The blue economy, mainly driven by offshore wind energy, carbon capture, and inspection of aging infrastructure, has created an urgent need for efficient data solutions. XOCEAN has already done much to address this demand, supporting large offshore wind projects and gathering more than 4.9 million gigabytes of data across 23 jurisdictions around the world. With a focus on the offshore wind sector, XOCEAN has supported the development of offshore wind projects that add up to 48.6 GW, providing crucial data for companies like SSE Renewables, Ørsted, bp, and Shell.
The investors bringing together the investment consortium for XOCEAN combine operational expertise and financial support. "The innovations put forward by XOCEAN is of great interest, and a unique opportunity sitting at the energy-oceans crossover point," opined Dr Francis O'Sullivan, Managing Director at S2G. This is according to Dr. O'Sullivan and is what brings out the greatest potential of blue economy. Patrick Yip, Head of Growth Equity at Climate Investment, highlighted the investment's climate impact by accelerating the technological development through the investor consortium's global network. The investor support will be beneficial to the scale up of the operations while XOCEAN will continue delivering its innovative climate solutions in the ocean data space.
Vikram Raju, Head of 1GT at Morgan Stanley, said he believes XOCEAN has the capacity to drive sustainable change and align with the firm's commitment to supporting low-carbon energy solutions. Partnership with Morgan Stanley's platform will provide XOCEAN with all the resources to expand its operations and further its decarbonization objectives.
The €115 million funding will further help XOCEAN decarbonize offshore data collection and enhance operational efficiency. XOCEAN is cementing its position as a global leader in ocean data services by reducing the environmental footprint of offshore data collection. The company's progress in uncrewed surface vessel technology and low-carbon operations are critical to the sustainable development of the oceans and transition to a more sustainable energy future.
In conclusion, the successful funding round for XOCEAN marks a very important milestone in its expansion route. The impressive support from major investors, along with its vision, will enable XOCEAN to expand globally, support the growth of the blue economy, and continue to strive for reducing its environmental footprint with regard to ocean data collection. Through its groundbreaking technology and a commitment to sustainability, XOCEAN is set to change the face of the future of ocean exploration and offshore energy.
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