Page 50: of Marine Technology Magazine (November 2021)

INTERVIEW Tim Janssen, CEO, Sofar Ocean Technologies

Can you give us some detailed insights on organiza- we have a long way to go to take this to the next level. And tions that are using your services today? we have to, because the pressure is on, as it is pretty clear

Basically we have three things that we sell and provide to to everyone that ocean dynamics is critical for understanding customers. One is hardware, to enable folks to collect data global weather and climate.

from the ocean, democratizing access to ocean data. One ex- We’ve just closed our series B ? nancing, which for a start-up ample is Aqualink, a philanthropy that’s focused on monitor- is a big deal. Our current round, led by Foundry Group and ing in real time the health of coral reefs, and particularly look- Union Square Ventures, is an important step, but the excite- ing at reef bleaching induced by heat waves in the ocean. ment (for this type of environmental and ocean intelligence)

The second part of what we deliver is large amounts of in general in the investor community is massive. unique data. That’s a very different type of customer, and you We have got to get better and faster at what we’re doing. can think about large government agencies that run their own We’ve learned a ton, but we’ve also learned everything we forecasting systems or intelligence agencies that would like to shouldn’t do. (We have to) get better at ? guring out better have unique information around what’s going on in the ocean ways to deliver real value from ocean intelligence to our cus- right now. tomers. Finally, the biggest hurdle to get to large distributed

And ? nally, insights. The shipping industry is our last cus- heterogeneous networks of sensors around the world is stan- tomer layer, and an example there is Berge Bulk which has dardization. And this is not just impacting us; this is impacting been using our system to improve the ef? ciency of their larg- every startup in the space, whether you build an autonomous est vessels shuttling between Brazil and China. surface vehicle, a glider, or another sensor platform. Aggres- sive standardization will help the entire community advance

What’s next for Sofar Ocean Technologies? to the next stage.

A lot, as we have just scratched the surface. The whole space, the maritime space, the ocean space, is very young, and * This interview was edited for clarity and brevity.

Way? nder is

Sofar Ocean Tech- nologies’ maritime s shipping route optimi- zation capability.

All images courtesy Sofar Ocean Technologies 50 November/December 2021

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