World’s Ocean Day. A moment to reflect but also to take action.
We are entering a pivotal period for ocean innovation and conservation—marked by the Blue Economy Finance Forum (BEFF) in Monaco and the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Nice. Regeneration.VC is proud to share our perspective on one of the most compelling yet underfunded frontiers in climate innovation. Oceans are essential to planetary health, economic resilience, and remain a largely untapped source of regenerative value for global consumer industries.
Our Consumer ClimateTech thesis is rooted in the belief that retooling global supply chains is critical to addressing ecological overshoot. Oceans are central to that thesis. The ocean economy is vast and rich in regenerative resources, yet it has seen limited application of modern technologies across the industries it supports. Facing accelerating pressures—from warming and acidification to biodiversity collapse and plastic saturation—this sector presents expansive white space for founders to build breakthrough technologies aligned with mitigation, adaptation, and regeneration to build a more resilient ocean economy.
Where We’re Investing: Regeneration.VC’s Ocean-Aligned Portfolio
Oceans have always been part of our broader thesis: they feed, transport, power (and unfortunately are polluted heavily by) our global consumer economy. We deepened this focus by acquiring the portfolio of Sky Ocean Ventures, an early leader in ocean-focused investing with a clear circularity thesis. That portfolio, built and managed by our partner Jamie Rowles, now forms a cornerstone of our ocean investments and ongoing work.
Our broader portfolio includes Cruz Foam, converting shrimp shell-derived chitin into compostable foam packaging for brands like Amazon, Sony, and Tiffany; Notpla, the Earthshot Prize-winning seaweed packaging firm; and Oceanium, a seaweed biorefinery co-backed by WWF and Builders Vision. We’ve invested in Matter—developing market-leading microplastic filtration for domestic and industrial systems—and co-incubated Freaks of Nature, a reef-safe personal care brand with Kelly Slater and Squared Circles.
Each of these companies applies deep science and systems thinking, yet operates with a consumer lens to enable scalable change across ocean value chains.
A Funding Gap in Plain Sight
Despite covering 70% of the planet and absorbing over 90% of excess heat and 25% of CO₂, ocean-related innovation remains chronically underfunded. According to the Blue Marine Foundation, less than 1% of global climate finance flows toward ocean-based solutions. UNEP reports that only $980 million was invested in marine nature-based solutions in 2022—compared to $23 billion for terrestrial ones. SDG 14 (“Life Below Water”) is consistently the least funded of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The Transformative Ocean Investment Opportunities report by ORAA, Builders Vision and 1000 Ocean Startups further illustrates this disconnect: only 0.1% of institutional capital (just $69 billion out of $100 trillion AUM) is blue-aligned. Of the $1.57 trillion in impact investing tracked globally, less than 1% is directed toward ocean solutions. While venture funding in the blue economy has reached $2.4 billion in 2024—a tenfold increase over the past decade—it still represents less than 2% of all VC capital.
This imbalance persists even as ocean degradation threatens food systems, climate stability, and coastal resilience—making the need for scaled mitigation and adaptation more urgent than ever.
Clear Signals of a Blue Supercycle
The tide, however, is beginning to turn. We believe ocean innovation is entering a supercycle driven by convergence across policy, corporate demand, and capital formation.
The World Resources Institute has called 2025 a pivotal year for the oceans with major work happening on UN High Seas Treaty, the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, the Global Plastics Treaty, and shaping the EU Ocean Pact. Most notably, the UN High Seas Treaty signed in 2023 commits 30% of oceans to protection by 2030 - a major goal that will require innovative financing. Public capital flows are in place - the EU’s Blue Economy Strategy has earmarked €800M for ocean-positive sectors like biodiversity restoration and sustainable aquaculture. Canada’s Ocean Supercluster is deploying $300M in public-private capital. The High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, representing 18 nations, is aligning national strategies around ocean resilience.
Corporate actors are also responding. Shipping giants Maersk, CMA CGM, and Hapag-Lloyd have been testing methanol- and ammonia-fueled vessels and now in sync with the IMO’s recent landmark Net Zero commitment. The Cargo Owners for Zero Emission Vessels (coZEV) initiative—driven by Amazon, IKEA, and Unilever—is pushing for decarbonized logistics. In consumer sectors, brands like Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive, and SC Johnson are rethinking packaging and chemicals to minimize marine impact. Adidas x Parley turned intercepted marine plastic into millions of shoes, showing the potential for storytelling and circularity to go hand in hand.
Meanwhile, the number of ocean-focused investment funds has grown from four in 2018 to over 40 in 2025. Builders Vision’s Transformative Ocean Investment Opportunities report tracks this rise, highlighting platforms such as Oceans 14 Capital, Swen Blue Ocean, Propeller, S2G Oceans, and the Re:Ocean Fund by the Prince Albert II Foundation. Ecosystem builders like Katapult Ocean, Blue Action Lab, and SeaAhead are catalyzing early-stage pipeline, while blended capital platforms like ORRAA are coordinating public-private initiatives such as the Deep Blue Verified Impact Facility and Blue Bond Accelerator.
This signals the emergence of a layered, coordinated capital stack that can support ocean innovation from lab to market.
Opportunity Mapping: Where the Ocean Meets Consumer ClimateTech
We see four areas where ocean innovation and consumer climate transition most compellingly converge:
1. Ocean Circularity
From algae-based films to waste valorization and bio-based surfactants, a new generation of materials and systems is reducing marine pollution and regenerating natural resources. Our investment in Cruz Foram exemplifies this—harnessing waste resources for circular packaging.
2. Regenerative Aquaculture & Blue Protein
Aquaculture could produce 6x more food than it does today with lower carbon footprints. But inefficiencies and pollution persist. This is an urgent opportunity for sensors, traceability platforms, sustainable feed, and circular seafood supply chains.
3. Green Maritime & Ocean Logistics
Shipping is undergoing a systemic shift. With the IMO’s 2025 carbon commitments, demand is rising for vessel electrification, alternative fuels, port electrification, and retrofit technologies—an area we are actively exploring in particular in the context of the vast movement of consumer goods globally to reduce the footprint of the global supply chains.
4. Ocean Intelligence & Infrastructure
Only 5% of the ocean has been mapped. Enabling technologies—autonomous sensors, traceability systems, ocean data analytics—will be essential for optimizing resource use, insuring coastal assets, and scaling blue carbon markets.
Building for the Oceans Is Hard—And That’s Exactly Why It’s Worth It
Building in the ocean isn’t for the faint of heart. Technologies must withstand harsh and corrosive environments, operate remotely, and integrate into complex regulatory regimes. Many solutions require capital-intensive, first-of-their-kind deployments—often blending venture with infrastructure or project finance.
But these challenges also create durable competitive advantages. Our experience tells us that there is a particular breed of founders in this space - often mission-first engineers, material scientists, maritime operators, and regeneration visionaries. We are proud to back them and help build the playbook for scaling ocean solutions.
The Ocean: Our Most Overlooked Climate Solution
We believe the oceans are where some of the most exciting opportunities in next decade of climate innovation will take root. Just as AgTech and FoodTech scaled from fringe to core over the past decade, we believe ocean innovation is poised to do the same. Scientific urgency, investment momentum, and real commercial demand are aligning to make this the most under-appreciated frontier in climate.
If you are building for the oceans—or seeking to fund its regenerative future—we would be delighted to collaborate.
The ocean has long been a source of life, wonder, and power. Now, it must become a source of hope, resilience, and regeneration.
Disclaimer: This article is intended for educational purposes only. Certain information contained herein has been obtained from other parties. While such sources are believed to be reliable, neither the Fund, the General Partner, the Management Company, nor their respective affiliates assume any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such information. The ecosystem mapping depicts a broad and non-exhaustive sample of companies at various business stages. Regeneration.VC holds an investment interest in some of these companies. The contents of this work should in no way be construed as investment recommendation guidance from Regeneration.VC. The information set forth does not purport to be complete and no obligation to update or otherwise revise such information is being assumed.
