Blue Water Autonomy comes out of stealth promising autonomous naval ships

A new shipbuilding startup called Blue Water Autonomy has emerged from stealth with the promise of developing captain-less naval ships.

The Boston, Massachusetts-based company has raised a $14 million seed round from Eclipse, Riot, and Impatient Ventures. The startup was founded in 2024 by former members of the U.S. Navy, leaders of Amazon Robotics, and iRobot.

Blue Water Autonomy joins an ever-growing list of startups that are taking advantage of a splurge in defense investment. Defense tech funding set a new record in 2024, led by Anduril’s $1.5 billion Series F round and Saronic — another autonomous maritime startup that notched a $175 million Series B.

The startup says it has developed a full-stack autonomy suite and concept ship designs in “under a year.” It’s already salt-water testing a 100-ton autonomous test vessel just outside of Boston, a spokesperson for the company told TechCrunch.

The seed funding will help Blue Water Autonomy expand its engineering team and accelerate testing, according to a release.

“No other company is tackling this problem at the ship level like Blue Water,” Seth Winterroth, a partner at Eclipse, said in a statement. “The team is a rare combination of roboticists and Navy veterans that positions them to be a critical partner to the Navy, the entire Department of Defense, and will have a major impact on the maritime industry.”