ORIX Corporation (“ORIX”) announced today that it has invested in Navigator II, a maritime tech fund managed by theDOCK, a venture capital fund based in Haifa, Israel specializing in the maritime sector. This is ORIX’s first investment in a fund managed by a venture capital fund specializing in the maritime sector.

Navigator II is an investment fund focused on investing in startup companies in the maritime sector. It invests in promising startup companies that create new services that utilise cutting-edge technologies, such as outdoor location detection solutions and marine CO₂ removal solutions, in maritime-related businesses such as shipping, port operations, and supply chains.

With this investment in collaboration with theDOCK, ORIX aims to gain business opportunities by building a network with maritime-related startup companies with growth potential in the areas of decarbonization and DX, as well as deepening its knowledge of the maritime tech business.

ORIX began a secondhand ship leasing business in Japan in the latter half of the 1960s and has been carrying out ship finance internationally since the first half of the 1970s. For more than 50 years, ORIX has been acquiring shipping-related expertise from ship finance, investment (owning and operations), sale & purchase and brokerage, including through the establishment in 1977 of Perseus Shipping Co., Ltd. (now ORIX Maritime Corporation), a company which operates vessels. Currently, ORIX owns a number of vessels, mainly bulk carriers, and provides transportation services to first-class companies such as grain trading houses and power companies worldwide.

Two years ago, ORIX Group established new ESG-related “Material Issues” and “Key Goals” as part of its initiatives to promote sustainability. ORIX engages in ESG conscious initiatives in the ship business as well, including placing an order for eco-ships, offering sustainable linked loans, reducing food loss at sea, and providing donations to Filipino crew members affected by typhoons. ORIX will continue to use the experience and expertise it has cultivated to globally promote initiatives that lead to sustainability, such as the decarbonization of marine transportation.