Oshen lands £3.65m seed to triple ocean-robot production
What's the deal? OshenDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Plymouth-based marine robotics startup, has raised £3.65m in a seed round led by Lunar VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. AlbionVCDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Twin Track VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Concept VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and several angel investors also participated.
What does it do? Founded in 2022, Oshen builds swarms of small, wind- and solar-powered robots that monitor the open ocean. Its customers include the US NavyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the Royal NavyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and the Met OfficeDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
What's the endgame? Oshen wants to build what it calls a "persistent sensing layer for the world's oceans." The funding will scale manufacturing, with plans to triple its production rate of its C-Star robots.
Why now? Chief executive and co-founder Anahita Laverack frames the challenge as one of volume, not capability. "That's not a sensing problem anymore — the technology works, and it works in the worst conditions on Earth. It's a manufacturing problem," she said.
The company, now a team of almost 30, says it has spent the past year turning C-Star production into "something closer to a fast-food kitchen than a shipyard: fast, repeatable, and something you can stand up anywhere," Laverack said.
The signal: Investors see a shift from scarce, costly ocean platforms to cheaper autonomous fleets. "Advances in autonomy and manufacturing are making it possible to replace scarcity with scale," said Mick Halsband, general partner at Lunar Ventures. "Oshen is among the first companies turning that shift into operational reality."
Read more: UKTN
Image credit: Oshen
