Oceans are vast, making it challenging for governments, shipping firms, and insurers to monitor activities effectively. Many modern ships lack the technology and software necessary for accurate data analysis. Quartermaster, a startup from Arlington, Virginia, has developed a solution called “SmartMast.” This consists of rugged sensors like cameras and radios mounted on a ship’s mast to transmit real-time data. Together with an analytics platform, it forms a “continuous, distributed sensing network” for ships globally.
Quartermaster CEO Neil Sobin highlights that SmartMast surpasses the existing AIS (automatic identification system) standard, which mainly provides basic location pings and is susceptible to vulnerabilities. As AIS is opt-in, it can be exploited for illegal activities by opting out or spoofing. Sobin argues Quartermaster’s technology is more secure against such fraud.
Recently, Sobin successfully pitched to investors, resulting in a $43 million Series A funding round co-led by First Round Capital and Quiet Capital. First Round partner Bill Trenchard remarked that Quartermaster is transforming maritime intelligence by overcoming the hardware scalability challenge.
Thus far, over 600 ships equipped with SmartMast have monitored 10 million square miles of ocean. The goal is to offer an intelligence infrastructure layer for various purposes, including ship identification, data collection for marine autonomy, supporting scientists, and providing insights to governments. SmartMast-equipped vessels have also participated in over 20 sea rescues.
Sobin emphasizes dedication to mariners, which could boost customer acquisition. Quartermaster’s pro-mariner stance contrasts with the challenging sensor sales pitches other market players face due to low-margin fleet operations.
The funding will primarily hire engineers to advance Quartermaster’s technology. Sobin believes that engineers will be drawn to the opportunity for significant impact in the largely unexplored domain of oceanic computer vision tasks.