The maritime industry, despite being central to global trade, faces significant communication challenges due to its reliance on email. The sheer volume of emails, often containing critical operational data, overwhelms teams, leading to inefficiencies and delays. This reliance persists due to the complexity of global operations, the involvement of multiple stakeholders across time zones, and the lack of standardized communication tools. Sedna redefines the industry with its solution.
London-based Sedna Communications, a platform specialising in maritime communication in global trade, has secured $10 million in debt financing to grow its position as a leader in the sector. The financing, provided by CIBC Innovation Banking, will allow Sedna to enhance its AI-driven solutions, expand its integrations, and support continued growth. T
he company envisions creating an ecosystem where communication is not just about exchanging messages but about driving operational excellence through actionable insights.
Why email is a big problem for the maritime sector
Founded in 2017 by Bill Dobie, Sedna Communications aims to address the inefficiencies inherent in maritime and supply chain communication. Dobie’s extensive background in marine software innovation includes founding Navarik and Stage 3 Systems, which gave him deep insights into the industry’s pain points.
Sedna’s mission is to revolutionise how businesses communicate by providing a data-driven platform that enhances profitability and efficiency. Its vision is to empower organizations with tools that streamline communication processes and improve decision-making across global supply chains.
Due to the combination of the size, complexity, and global reach of maritime transport and supply chains, the industry remains heavily dependent on email. With little prospect of change, those operating in the sector have little option but to find ways to manage those emails. Sedna’s platform offers an alternative. Leveraging AI, it can extract critical data to inform decision-making and efficiency even in high-volume email exchanges.
Sedna’s platform offers an alternative. Leveraging AI, it can extract critical data to inform decision-making and efficiency even in high-volume email exchanges. Its AI capabilities extract key information from unstructured data, such as vessel names or cargo details, and link it to relevant operational systems like SAP or Veson Nautical. This integration creates a unified workspace where teams can collaborate seamlessly without switching between multiple tools.
The company has grown to have the largest customer base for maritime communication, with clients including port agents, vessel operators, charterers, brokers, and IT managers. They further strengthened their position in 2024 with the acquisition of Nordic IT, a specialist in email management.
How Sedna is transforming the way the global supply chain communicates
Although email is widely used, it can be difficult to manage without a standardised message structure to make data extraction reliable. However, AI’s ability to process large sets of unstructured data, including email content, addresses that issue.
The platform uses this power to save employees significant time, allowing them to focus on more meaningful aspects of their job instead of reading and processing emails. Sedna says their platform has seen impressive results among their clients, saving individual team members an average of 10 hours a week, which, in turn, has translated to an 80% productivity boost and a 200% increase in operator capacity.
CIBC Innovation Banking recognised both Sedna’s strong position and potential for growth, making it an attractive prospect for addition to its $11 billion portfolio. “The maritime and supply chain industry is such an integral part of global trade, and communication is central to this success,” said Sean Duffy, Managing Director, UK & Europe, CIBC Innovation Banking. “Sedna’s solution enables players in the industry to make informed, timely decisions by ensuring critical information reaches the right people at the right time.”
How Sedna will shape the future of maritime tech
Sedna plans to use the funding to consolidate and build on its strong position, enabling them to invest in further development of their AI models, they intend to offer more integrations allowing them to scale globally and build stronger partnerships with key players in the sector.
CIBC’s commitment was welcomed by Sedna. “CIBC has proven to be a dynamic and strategic financial provider, offering the flexibility and industry expertise that high-growth companies like ours need to thrive,” said Robert Scott, Sedna’s CFO. “Securing this growth financing from CIBC Innovation Banking is a testament to Sedna’s strong market position and continued momentum.”
Scott is confident that, with CIBC’s backing, Sedna’s positive trajectory is assured, “In a sector where efficiency and speed are critical,” he said, “this funding enables us to accelerate our investment in cutting-edge technology and scale our impact across the global trade and supply chain industry.”
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