A SELECTION OF 2025 SOLUTIONS
Welcome to our 2025 digital magazine of solutions. We had 150 + applicants for our three $100,000 Neptune Awards, leading to our winners: Orpheus Ocean, NeuralX, and Cecilia. This has been a year of transition as we became part of the Marine Technology Society at the end of 2Q. This combination was the result of a year of deep consideration of the mutual benefits such a combination would bring. Our two boards spent time getting to know each other and understanding our complementary cultures and missions.
Millicent Wallace Pitts CEO/Executive Director
As we look ahead, we are now focused on executing for those mutual synergies and benefits while keeping the Ocean Exchange “secret sauce” intact and thriving under its new parent.
At the end of last year, we announced that we were part of the NOAA Ocean Enterprise Accelerator Phase 2 grant. Our grantee group, which we call The Continuum, has functioned at 100% levels during 2025 in a fully operational grant, with funds flowing and programming well underway with initial cohorts complete and TDC Awards proposed.
Kudos to our team for the successful year. Susan Zellers, Alys Spillman and Alex Akkaoui navigated our company and grant transition while helping organize our best event ever.
ABALOBI
ABALOBI provides an integrated digital platform that enables small scale fishers to capture real time catch data, access traceable market channels, and strengthen their financial resilience while adopting low impact, climate conscious fishing practices. Through hands on training and community wide capacity building, the organization advances equitable livelihoods, supports ecosystem health, and offers a scalable model for data driven fisheries co management.
Algae Scope
Algae Scope is developing a fully seaweed based bio coating that offers a scalable, affordable alternative to PFAS in textiles, addressing rising regulatory pressure across major global markets. As they refine the technology and expand early production, high profile pilots with partners are accelerating their commercial path, supported by a team with deep expertise in materials science, seaweed innovation, energy transition, and strategic venture development.
Aloft Systems
Aloft creates modular wind propulsion systems that give commercial ships a containerized, easily installed way to capture wind power and cut fuel use, emissions, and operating costs. Their automated sails deploy only when conditions are favorable, fit seamlessly onto existing vessels without disrupting cargo operations, and offer a practical path for broad adoption of wind assist technology across key segments like dry bulkers and RoRos, accelerating progress toward zero carbon shipping.
This company is developing the first real time, in situ microplastics sensor, addressing the slow, costly, and labor intensive sampling methods that currently limit scientists and regulators. By merging expertise in microplastics, underwater acoustics, and advanced sensor engineering, they are creating an ultrasound based system that can identify the concentration and composition of microplastics directly in the water column, dramatically reducing analysis time and cost while enabling faster response to a growing global pollution threat.
Aqua- d to transf g plant noff that c cting marine ecosystems. This plant based, biodegradable hydrogel integrates naturally chelated iron, replacing unsustainable materials like mineral wool and synthetic chelated iron to boost crop yields, enhance profitability, and minimize waste.
Cori Byrge - LinkedIn
AquaDeep is a blue tech startup delivering AI driven tools for aquaculture, with its OXYGEN platform providing real time production monitoring and automated fish larvae counting through advanced computer vision. By replacing manual workflows with precise, data rich insights, the company helps hatcheries and fish farms enhance accuracy, lower labor costs, and build more resilient, sustainable operations across Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.
atdepth
atdepth is creating next generation Ocean Digital Twins that function as an operating system for the blue economy, using GPU accelerated modeling to deliver fast, detailed 3D predictions capable of supporting thousands of simultaneous ocean interventions. Their cloud native platform provides real time, highly scalable ocean intelligence for sectors like carbon removal, aquaculture, offshore energy, and coastal restoration, cutting monitoring and simulation costs while enabling climate scale decision making without the need for supercomputers or specialized expertise.
Bio Clean Carbon uses photosynthetic cyanobacteria to capture and remove excess nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater runoff, stopping nutrient pollution before it reaches fragile coastal and ocean ecosystems. Through engineered, low energy biological systems, the company provides a scalable and cost effective alternative to conventional nutrient removal, helping reduce eutrophication and dead zones while improving overall water quality and coastal resilience.
BlueNose designs lightweight, modular aerodynamic deflectors that can be retrofitted onto commercial vessels to cut air drag and improve fuel efficiency by up to 5 percent, directly reducing emissions and operating costs. Powered by advanced CFD modeling and AI driven shape optimization, their system deploys quickly, adapts easily across vessel types, and offers shipowners a scalable, commercially viable pathway to meet decarbonization goals without compromising performance.
Bluesonde builds compact, fully integrated monitoring buoys that provide real time water quality data at far lower cost and complexity than traditional ocean observing systems. By uniting sensors, power, communications, and antifouling protection in a single low maintenance device, their modular, scalable platform expands access to high quality ocean data for aquaculture, research, coastal management, and climate tech applications, enabling more informed decisions that strengthen ocean health and resilience.
Ceal Minerals
Ceal addresses scaling and biofouling challenges in seawater cooled power plants by integrating a proprietary electrochemical mineralization system directly into existing infrastructure through an asset light, co location model. Their approach not only improves plant efficiency and eliminates harmful anti fouling chemicals, it also precipitates high purity calcium carbonate as a valuable product while permanently sequestering significant CO₂, transforming cooling water systems into profitable, climate positive operations.
Cecilia
Cecilia is an advanced materials company that converts hard to recycle industrial plastic waste into structured carbon nanomaterials using a fully electric, microwave based process that requires no combustion or fossil inputs. Their modular system produces graphitic carbon, carbon nanotubes, & clean hydrogen, enabling high performance recycled polymers while preventing ocean bound waste, avoiding incineration, & offering a decentralized, energy efficient alternative that can be deployed globally to support cleaner oceans & more resilient coastlines.
Cetera Energy
Cetera Energy converts oilfield wastewater into a domestic source of battery grade lithium using a Stanford developed electrochemical extraction technology co created with a Nobel Laureate and supported by the U.S. Department of Energy. Their modular, highly selective system recovers nearly all available lithium without evaporation ponds or high energy demand, delivering major CAPEX and OPEX reductions while repurposing millions of gallons of wastewater and avoiding significant CO₂ emissions as they scale production across the U.S.
Deep Anchor Solutions delivers a compact, low impact anchoring system for floating offshore energy and marine infrastructure through its patented Deeply Embedded Ring Anchor, which can be locally fabricated, road transported, and installed quietly without heavy lift vessels. Cutting anchor CAPEX by up to seventy five percent and lifecycle emissions by up to eighty percent, DERA works across diverse seabeds with far less ecological disruption, offering a scalable foundation solution for climate aligned ocean projects.
Dottir Labs, an MIT spinout, develops compact in line Raman based sensors that deliver real time measurement of ammonia, nitrate, CO₂, and early stress or parasite indicators in aquaculture systems without reagents or manual sampling. Built for scalable deployment in recirculating aquaculture systems, their hardware and analytics provide lab quality data directly from the tank, helping farmers detect issues early, reduce losses, and manage water more efficiently.
GaiaXus
GaiaXus creates low cost, high accuracy water quality sensors that measure essential parameters and sync with a mobile app and cloud platform for real time analysis and global data sharing. Designed for rugged, scalable use in underserved and remote regions, their tools are helping schools, researchers, and community groups generate actionable data that advances watershed restoration, climate resilience, and ocean health.
HydrokinetX
HydrokinetX delivers off grid, marine powered ocean intelligence by pairing its PKelp energy converters with the RIPS monitoring platform to create regenerative, always on sensors that stream continuous wave, current, and environmental data. Designed as biomimetic kelp fronds and scalable through frond arrays, the system provides real time, edge processed insights that support coastal engineers, aquaculture operators, researchers, and governments in navigating fast changing marine conditions.
hydrokinetx.com
ingeniSPACE integrates terrestrial and space based sensing to track climate impacts, IUU activity, and gray zone maritime behavior with high temporal and observational precision. Its Peregrine platform applies advanced LLM and ML tools to streamline data queries and reveal actionable patterns, allowing analysts to focus on insight generation rather than data gathering.
Lux Bio
Lux Bio is a biotech company developing the 1st scalable bioluminescent lighting system, using patented protein based enzymes inspired by marine organisms to produce visible light for more than forty eight hours with no electricity, heat, or toxic waste. Their biodegradable, water activated lighting is positioned to replace over a billion single use chem lights each year across sectors like fisheries, defense, & emergency response, with early traction including NASA as a first customer, significant government contracts, and strong demand from ocean safety partners.
Microvi delivers turnkey, biology driven water and wastewater solutions using engineered biocatalysts—polymer composites densely packed with specialized microbes—that streamline reactor design, shrink system footprints, and provide stable high performance treatment. Their MB Aquavia platform brings this approach to aquaculture, enabling fast, consistent nitrate removal across varying salinities to improve water quality, reduce complexity and costs, and support healthier farmed species.
NakedPak
NakedPak produces edible, cookable packaging made from algae and other food safe ingredients, designed to dissolve completely in boiling water and eliminate single use plastic waste. Their patent pending, shelf stable film integrates seamlessly into existing dry food supply chains, helping companies cut costs, meet regulatory requirements, and reduce microplastic and landfill pollution through a zero waste, zero trace alternative that protects both consumers and ocean health.
NeuralX delivers an AI powered underwater monitoring system that replaces manual feeding and visual checks with real time insights on fish appetite, biomass, counting, and health, enabling automated and highly efficient aquaculture operations. By combining computer vision with a proprietary simulation engine trained on synthetic and real datasets, the platform provides precise fish level analytics that reduce waste, prevent mortality, support sustainable offshore farming, and position NeuralX as the core data infrastructure for next generation aquaculture.
Nucleic Sensing Systems
Nucleic Sensing Systems specializes in environmental DNA (eDNA) and RNA monitoring through their innovative Tracker system, a portable, field-deployable device that autonomously analyzes water samples in real time. The Tracker uses advanced PCR techniques to detect specific genetic material with high precision, offering actionable insights within an hour. NS2 enables users to monitor biological activity, such as detecting invasive species or pathogens, efficiently and accurately.
Ocean Revive is a bluetech company redefining large scale coral restoration through the first fully integrated, end to end smart modular toolkit that supports coral farming, rapid outplanting, and detailed performance tracking. Built from their own scientific research, their adaptable hybrid nurseries and streamlined workflows accelerate deployment, cut costs, and incorporate the latest resilience science to create future proof reef ecosystems for projects of any size.
ORCAUBOAT
ORCAUBOAT is advancing autonomous surface vessel technology through 3 product lines, including water-surface cleaning robots, selfdriving leisure boats, & a next generation Advanced Pilot Assistance System. Its APAS platform integrates autonomous navigation control, environmental sensing, & intelligent decision-making to deliver functions like collision avoidance, autonomous docking, & fully automated operations, replacing fragmented solutions with a unified, cost-effective autonomy system that improves safety & reduces environmental impact.
Orpheus Ocean
Orpheus Ocean delivers scalable deep sea intelligence through its Orpheus AUV, a lightweight, fully autonomous vehicle capable of reaching eleven thousand meters while dramatically reducing the cost and complexity of deep ocean access. Designed at WHOI and NASA JPL, its modular payload system supports a wide range of sensors, cameras, and sampling tools, enabling deployment from small vessels or in coordinated swarms to transform seabed data collection and advance sustainable exploration of the deep ocean.
Reefgen, Inc.
Reefgen builds robotic and automated systems that dramatically scale the restoration of underwater habitats such as coral reefs and seagrass meadows, reducing costs and accelerating deployment compared to manual methods. Through a Robotics as a Service model, their technology enables practitioners and coastal communities to plant and restore marine ecosystems at far greater speed and precision, supporting large scale ecological recovery and long term ocean resilience.
Ridge to Reefs’s Bioreactor Garden is a nature based wastewater treatment system that replicates wetland processes in a contained, climate resilient design capable of serving everything from individual homes to large municipal facilities. Requiring no electricity and minimal maintenance, it reduces pollutants, supports circular local economies through upcycled materials and contractor training, and produces water clean enough for agricultural use or green fire breaks, offering communities a new model for safeguarding public and ocean health.
Slow Mill Wave Power
This company develops a patented, plug and play wave energy system that delivers sustainable, reliable, and cost effective power for islands, remote communities, coastal cities, ports, and industrial users. By licensing its technology to partners, the team scales clean energy deployment while advancing nature based solutions that enhance biodiversity, support coastal protection, and provide climate resilient infrastructure through continuous innovation and collaborative project development.
SOS Biotech converts mass seaweed invasions like sargassum into high value biotechnological products by harvesting the biomass before it damages coastal ecosystems or local economies. Through its patented Littoral Collection Module, the company has intercepted more than sixteen thousand tons of sargassum across four countries, turning it into biostimulants and bio based materials that cut carbon emissions, replace fossil inputs, and support community livelihoods through extensive local training and product commercialization.
Sporadicate Inc
Sporadicate is a biotech company using proprietary mycelium strains to biodegrade plastic & restore contaminated land through an integrated system that combines plastic to fuel pyrolysis, PET to filament recycling, & tree based soil remediation. Their near zero waste platform transforms harmful materials into valuable outputs like diesel & 3D printing filament while deploying bioengineered tree systems to heal toxic sites, with a modular, revenue focused model set to scale beginning with their flagship facility in Idaho in 2026.
Sunfish
Sunfish develops compact, highly maneuverable autonomous underwater vehicles that provide real time, high resolution imaging and 3D mapping for inspection, exploration, and survey missions. Their person portable AUV platform delivers advanced autonomy, SLAM based navigation, and precise six degree of freedom control, enabling detailed work in complex environments such as caves, reefs, ports, offshore structures, and archaeological sites without the limitations of traditional tethered systems.
Sunspan develops tube based floating PV panels that eliminate the need for large plastic float assemblies by using hollow, buoyant tubes that serve as both the structural support and the solar module format. These tubes can be rolled, transported, and deployed directly onto the water with exceptional efficiency, offering a simplified, cost competitive alternative to conventional fixed tilt floating or ground mounted solar systems.
WriggleBrew tackles plastic pollution and agricultural runoff by breaking down toxic plastic waste and converting it into high value organic fertilizer through a bioreactor system powered by specialized earthworms. Their regenerative approach replaces synthetic fertilizers that contribute to dead zones, instead restoring soil health while preventing pollution from reaching waterways, creating a closed loop solution that benefits ecosystems on land and in the ocean.
X1 Wind
X1 Wind is a floating wind technology developer whose PivotBuoy concept redefines platform design to cut capital costs and lower the levelised cost of energy for offshore wind. After validating the system through its X30 demonstrator in the Canary Islands, the first tension leg platform floating wind unit to export power, the company is now scaling toward commercial projects with a world class team and a clear path to industrialization.
Zparq is a Swedish company specializing in ultra-compact, scalable electric marine motors designed for both recreational and commercial vessels. Their direct-drive systems, featuring patented Hyperflow Cooling™ technology, are up to 10x smaller than conventional motors, offering high efficiency, zero emissions, and minimal maintenance. Their flagship product, the Z10 outboard motor, exemplifies their commitment to revolutionizing marine propulsion with environmentally friendly technology.
