Ireland and now San Francisco-based company Ulysses Ecosystem Engineering, which focuses on restoring sensitive marine environments, has raised $2 million in a pre-seed funding round. Lowercarbon Capital led the round, which was also participated in by VC firms Superorganism and ReGen Ventures, as well as angel investors Eoghan McCabe and Ciaran Lee, co-founders of Intercom.
The new capital will enable Ulysses to drive growth, expand its engineering team, and extend its operations to additional locations, including Europe.
Key challenge – automating seagrass restoration
Founded in 2023 by Akhil Voorakkara, Colm O’Brien, Jamie Wedderburn, and Mr. O’Brien, Ulysses Ecosystem Engineering develops drones that automate restoring ocean habitats, particularly seagrass meadows. The company’s technology can transform marine conservation and technology sectors. For example, it can plant seagrass at a fraction of the cost of traditional manual methods, allowing for larger-scale and faster restoration projects. It could be a game-changer in the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss.
Seagrass meadows, crucial marine ecosystems, are in a state of crisis. They support biodiversity and capture significant amounts of carbon — up to 35 times more per acre than rainforests. However, due to climate change and human activities, these habitats are declining globally at 7% per year. Seagrass occupies only 0.1% of the ocean floor but plays a vital role in marine ecosystems, supporting plants and fish, filtering ocean water, and capturing carbon.
Ulysses stands out from its competitors with its innovative approach to seagrass restoration. Unlike others, Ulysses’ autonomous robots collect seagrass seeds from healthy donor meadows and replant them in degraded areas while monitoring the new vegetation’s growth. This approach has been shown to speed up restoration by 100 compared to manual planting at a significantly lower cost.
Market need comes with a growing demand for seagrass restoration
New regulations, such as the EU’s Nature Restoration Law, mandate large-scale habitat restoration, driving the demand for Ulysses’ services. The company has already generated $1 million in revenue from seagrass restoration projects, partnering with the University of Western Australia, The Nature Conservancy in Virginia, and government agencies in Florida.
Akhil Voorakkara, CEO and co-founder of Ulysses Ecosystem Engineering said: “Every year, we lose seagrass meadows the size of a small country, taking with them critical marine habitat and powerful carbon sinks. We’ve proven that autonomous restoration can reverse this trend at a fraction of the traditional cost.”
Lowercarbon Capital partner Ryan Orbuch added, “Seagrass is the little-known hero of the ocean, capturing 35 times more carbon per acre than rainforests and providing critical habitat for coastal species. Until now, hand planting was the only way to restore it. Ulysses’ underwater drones make it 10x cheaper and are ready to scale restoration efforts today.”
Expanding impact on global biodiversity
In the future, Ulysses Ecosystem Engineering’s autonomous underwater platform could have applications beyond seagrass restoration. It could potentially contribute to other coastal management and security initiatives that support global biodiversity conservation, expanding its impact worldwide.
Voorakkara shared, “What we’ve developed is an autonomous underwater platform that is capable but also much, much, much lower cost than almost anything else on the market. We are excited to see where our technology can be applied.”
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