WSense, the Italian Scaleup Specialist in Underwater WiFi, Collects €9 million

Wsense srl, a scaleup that develops wireless underwater monitoring and communication systems with unprecedented reliability and scalability, has closed a €9 million Series A investment round, which was led by Swen Capital Partners’ Blue Ocean fund and in which CDP Venture Capital sgr, RunwayFBU, Axon Partners Group, the accelerator Katapult Ocean, CoreAngels Climate and Moonstone also participated.

Founded in 2017 by CEO Chiara Petrioli, professor of computer engineering at the La Sapienza University of Rome, the company is a spin-off of the same University, was accelerated in 2022 by EIT Digital, and in March 2022, WSense received the European Commission’s Blueinvest Award in the Ocean Observation category for new products, technologies and AI-based solutions for ocean observation, marine data collection, and analysis.

Also in 2022, it raised a seed round of €4 million, led by the Evoluzione Fund of CDP Venture Capital sgr, which in fact until now was the second largest shareholder in the scaleup with 6.68% of the capital after Petrioli (75.27%) and with the senior partner and co-head of the Fund, Mario Scuderi , who has sat on the company’s board since November 2022. The operation had not been communicated at the time.

Last January in Davos, the World Economic Forum selected WSense as the top innovator of the UpLink Ocean Data Challenge, as “the most innovative company in the world in the collection and management of Big Data for the purpose of protecting the ocean environment.” And last September 19, Chiara Petrioli was the only Italian CEO invited by the World Economic Forum to the NYC Sustainable Development Impact Meetings 2023, to support the United Nations General Assembly on key sustainability issues.

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Patented WSense technologies enable reliable, real-time, secure, and cost-effective underwater wireless communications

In essence, with its subsea wifi systems, it enables the Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT). This makes it possible to collect underwater data on an unprecedented scale, revolutionizing the study and understanding of the oceans and the planet. WSense technology consists of shallow- and deep-water hardware and software components to deploy and manage a wireless underwater internet network infrastructure that operates at depths of up to 3,000 meters.

The installed systems, which do not impact the seabed, allow marine and oceanic environments to be monitored in real-time. The technology will also enable improvements in operational efficiency and open up a number of new possibilities, including critical infrastructure monitoring, energy transition, real-time environmental monitoring, and data-driven sustainable aquaculture.

WSense has international customers and partners in multiple industries, including energy, telecommunications, defense, science, and ocean conservation. These include world-class institutions such as Leroy, Leonardo, AKER BP, Xylem, ENI, Saipem, and the National Oceanography Centre. The company has grown rapidly to over 50 employees and operates from its offices in Italy, Norway, and the United Kingdom.

With the completion of this raising round, WSense will now be able to enhance its international expansion and pursue rapid growth by increasing sales and deployments of its revolutionary wireless underwater communication technology solutions, with Europe and the Middle East as key reference markets.

Chiara Petrioli, co-founder and CEO, declared: “This new round, and above all the trust of new international investors, allow us to further strengthen our technological leadership in an increasingly competitive market in which even the big players are starting to enter. With our ability to implement previously impossible technologies in the marine environment, coupled with our ability to develop cutting-edge solutions, I believe WSense is well-positioned to have a positive impact on our planet. We are in fact developing partnerships that consolidate us in emerging areas such as marine renewable energy, autonomous underwater robotics, infrastructure security, and surveillance.”

Christian Lim, CEO of Blue Ocean, said: “The ocean plays a central role in regulating the climate. It is also home to prodigious biodiversity, nourishes us, and supports our economy. However, it remains largely unknown due to current technological limitations, which make communication and monitoring in the ocean much more difficult and expensive than on land. WSense is changing that. Its wireless underwater telecommunications technology is highly scalable and enables full ocean coverage, in real-time. This provides us with vital data and tools to better understand the ocean and protect it while harnessing its power to address the climate and biodiversity crisis.” Swen Capital Partners is a leading responsible investor in unlisted assets in Europe, with €8 billion under management (cumulative commitments). Blue Ocean is Swen’s venture capital fund that invests in innovations that help regenerate the health of the oceans, thus contributing to the achievement of Objective 14 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Sagar Chandna, Senior Partner and CTO at RunwayFBU added: “Wsense’s award-winning, game-changing technology can enable secure, real-time underwater communications, revolutionizing industries ranging from energy to sustainable aquaculture. As early-stage investors within the Aker Group, our unique ecosystem amplifies the speed and scale with which Wsense can implement and refine its innovations. This strategic collaboration is more than an investment; it is a partnership aimed at harnessing the unexplored potential of the ocean.” RunwayFBU is an early-stage venture capital operator of the Aker Group, an industrial investment company with concentrated holdings in the oil and gas, renewable energy and green technologies, industrial software, seafood, and marine biotechnology sectors.

Luis Castañeda, partner at Axon, said: “Underwater solutions will play a vital role in unlocking the full potential of new energy technologies located offshore. Wsense is perfectly positioned to bring into the aquatic ecosystem those solutions that, due to technological limitations, were only available for surface use cases.” Axon is a global technology and innovation company with a two-dimensional approach: investing and consulting. The company has around 90 experienced professionals covering Europe, the Americas, and the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) area, and is listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange.

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(Featured image by Jeremy Bishop via Unsplash)

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