Ship-scrubbing robot’s Sydney builders raise $16m to go global

Hullbot, an ocean robotics firm, has secured $16m in an oversubscribed Series A raising to accelerate the global rollout of its autonomous ship-cleaning systems – a major bet on a homegrown solution for one of the maritime industry’s most expensive problems.

Regeneration.VC led the raising, with participation from Katapult Ocean, Climate Tech Partners and Folklore Ventures among others. The funding is earmarked for developing larger robotic systems and establishing international service hubs to meet fast-growing global demand.

Hullbot’s machines – which have already impressed the Royal Australian Navy – are designed to combat biofouling, the accumulation of marine organisms from simple slime to barnacles, on vessel hulls.

Even a thin layer of slime, which develops rapidly, can dramatically increase a ship’s drag through the water, leading to higher fuel use and therefore carbon emissions.

“We are committed to showing how Australian innovation can take on one of the world’s hardest-to-abate sectors,” Hullbot founder and chief executive Tom Loefler said.

“A very thin layer of slime can increase the fuel consumption and emissions by over 25 per cent. Hullbot sits at the intersection of shipping efficiency, decarbonisation and ocean health. This raise allows us to take that impact to the next level.”

Mr Loefler and electrical engineer Karl Watfer founded Hullbot eight years ago. Mr Loefler, a Coogee local, happened upon the idea after spending several years studying boats and naval architecture. He had initially wanted to build yachts.

But part of the way through his studies at the University of New South Wales he changed to industrial design, which, he said “ultimately led to a fusion of my passions for technology”.

The “aha moment” for Hullbot was the realisation that small, smart robots could be deployed to clean the hull “gently, early and often” to maintain an optimal state at all times. He said this proactive approach has delivered proven fuel savings averaging 15 per cent and as high as 26 per cent for customers, and has already prevented more than 4 million kilograms of CO2 emissions across over 1000 cleans globally.

“Hullbot has developed unique deep-tech IP that enables our robots to image the hull and use cameras and AI to know where they are and where they need to go, and that gives us a unique competitive advantage in being able to clean complex geometry like propellers and rudders, and to be able to perform very high-quality inspections and underwater analysis,” he said.

“By keeping that hull in the clean state at all times, we can decarbonise maritime transportation globally, and certainly are one of the largest possible contributions to those existing vessels that’s available today as a turnkey solution.”

The new funding will enable Hullbot to transition from servicing ferry fleets in cities like Sydney, Seattle, and Singapore to entering the commercial shipping industry with a next-generation system dubbed “Big Bot”.

“Big Bot enables us to clean very large vessels at every port and anchorage that they visit on their journey,” Mr Loefler said. “It’s best to think of it as one piece of technology in two sizes, and that larger robot will enable us to enter the shipping industry where our impact can be several orders of magnitude larger.”

The company expects to commence paid deployments of Big Bot in the middle of next year.

Hullbot’s efforts earned it the Australian Good Design Award of the Year, beating global giants such as Tesla and Polestar.

The company designs, builds, and deploys its robots from its Sydney base – a decision Mr Loefler attributes to maintaining control over its intelectual property and supply chain.

“We look forward to building one of the largest robot manufacturing facilities in Marrickville over the coming months, using our Series A capital.”

The capital reflects a growing venture capital focus on deep-tech solutions for traditionally hard-to-abate sectors.

“This is ingenious technology ripe with commercial proof at a critical inflection point for international maritime,” Regeneration.VC principal Destana Herring said.

“We see a validated multibillion-dollar opportunity to decarbonise world-leading fleets.”

Folklore Ventures partner Alister Coleman praised Hullbot’s leadership.

“Tom Loefler struck us as someone uniquely placed to address this unsolved problem,” he said. “Folklore is proud to partner with Tom and the Hullbot team, as they continue to see strong traction with major marine customers globally.”

This article first appeared in The Australian as Aussie robotics start-up Hullbot has ‘out-Innovated’ Tesla and has raised $16m to go global