• For the third consecutive year, Flagship Founders has released its “Global Maritime Tech Startup Map.”

• The analysis shows strong growth in AI integration among startups, though not across all categories of the Startup Map.

• Greece recorded the highest number of new additions

 The venture studio Flagship Founders today published the “Global Maritime Tech Startup Map 2025,” offering an overview of the current global landscape of maritime tech startups and scaleups. This is the third edition of the map, which now features 176 startups, up from 149 the year before. Some new startups have been added, while others were removed after no longer meeting the selection criteria, including six that merged with or were acquired by other companies.

Key insights from the 2025 analysis:

AI integration is growing rapidly

As expected, a growing number of the listed startups now say they are working with AI technology. In 2025, 45% of all featured startups report using AI in their offering, up from 27.5% the previous year.

However, AI integration is not evenly distributed across the categories of the Startup Map. The “Condition & Maintenance” category stands out: a striking 72% of startups report having integrated AI into their products, more than in any other category. In the category “Communications & Information Management,” 90% of startups founded within the past three years use AI, indicating that this segment is being transformed particularly quickly (in total, 56% of the startups in this category integrate AI).

In other areas the rate of AI adoption is much lower, such as “Procurement” (28%), “Ports & Docks” (40%), and “Crewing & Crew Management” (33%). This may suggest that these fields are either more difficult to address with AI, or that their innovation potential is far from exhausted.

Funding developments

Over the past twelve months, since the 2024 edition of the map, maritime tech startups have raised around USD 234 million in disclosed funding rounds. That’s an increase of about 73% compared to the previous year, when the total reached around USD 135 million. (Important note: Not all funding rounds are publicly disclosed. Flagship Founders only analysed publicly available data. The actual figures are likely higher, especially for early-stage startups.) The increase is largely driven by a few major later-stage funding rounds, with Orca AI alone having raised USD 72.5 million in a Series B round recently.

Geographic trends and developments
Singapore, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States continue to dominate the global maritime startup landscape, accounting for more than half of all listed companies.

One standout trend is the growth in Greece: the number of Greek startups on the map increased from nine to fourteen, potentially signaling a strengthening innovation ecosystem in the Mediterranean. Taken together, Greece and Cyprus now rank third in terms of total number of startups, behind only Singapore and the UK.

Another notable trend is thematic clustering by region. The UK continues to confirm its position as a global finance hub: nearly half of all startups in the finance and insurance category are based there, along with about one-third of all startups in the chartering and trading categories.

Continental Europe leads in green tech and decarbonization: 80% of the startups in this category are based in the EU or EEA. This is likely due to the region’s strong leadership in emissions reduction legislation.

Other regions show a high degree of diversity. Singapore, for example, not only hosts the highest overall number of startups (30), but, along with the US and Germany, also leads in the number of represented categories – with eight each.

Fabian Feldhaus, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Flagship Founders, comments on this year’s results: “We’re pleased to see the maritime tech ecosystem evolving so strongly – especially in terms of AI integration. The key question now is whether companies are ready to systematically adopt these solutions and truly modernize their processes. At the same time, AI-driven startups must demonstrate real value and impact. If both sides work together effectively, the industry could make a genuine leap forward, potentially skipping over some of the painful digitalization steps other sectors struggled with for decades.”

Note on methodology

Flagship Founders uses the following criteria for selecting startups:

• The listed startups are no older than ten years, founded in 2015 or later.

• Their core offering is software, not hardware.

• The startups are independent – they were not spun out of, merged with, or acquired by a larger company.

• They are exclusively or primarily active in the maritime industry.

The Startup Map aims to reflect an ecosystem that is very dynamic. A complete and exhaustive overview is not possible, as many young startups operate without public communication, and changes in companies are not always disclosed. Data availability also varies significantly by region. The segmentation on the map is based on key problem areas and software categories within the maritime industry, though some gaps may remain. Flagship Founders continuously refines its methodology, categories, and selection criteria. Feedback on potential errors or additions is always welcome.