Page 51: of Marine Technology Magazine (November 2021)

Sofar Ocean Technologies

Who: Sofar Ocean Technologies is a real-time ocean intelligence platform based in San Francisco, California.

What: Sofar has a global distributed network of thousands of sensors designed to capture data to drive unique weather forecasts and enable dynamic vessel routes. Cumulatively, these sensors have already racked up over ? ve million ocean hours. Where Sofar seeks to differentiate itself is in its interconnected and global network and the vast amounts of data collected, leveraging scale and accessibility. Sofar devices are designed to be ‘cost-effective’ and scalable depending on customer needs. From the Southern Ocean to the kelp forests of California and the coral reefs of Australia, Sofar is delivering more than 100,000 unique ocean data points daily.

Why: While the oceans cover over 70% of the Earth’s surface, we currently have an underwhelming amount of data about it, even though 3.5% of the world’s GDP, which is close to $3 trillion, happens on the ocean’s surface. To better predict the future state of weather and climate over our oceans, data density is critical.

Milestones: • June 2021: Sofar opened access to its proprietary data platform to all scientists. • September 2021: Sofar introduced a new marine hardware standard, Bristlemouth, aimed at catalyzing more collaboration, research and innovation for big data from the oceans with partners DARPA, the Of? ce of Naval

Research & Oceankind.

• November 2021: Sofar announced a $39 million Series B syndicate round with Union Square Ventures and the

Foundry Group.

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