Insider Brief
- Oshen raised $5 million in a round led by Lunar Ventures to expand production of its C-Star autonomous ocean robots, with 100 additional units on order.
- AlbionVC, Twin Track Ventures and Concept Ventures also participated as Oshen increased production from 15 robots over its first three years to 15 every six weeks.
- The wind- and solar-powered C-Stars are used for weather, ocean and maritime monitoring, with customers including NOAA, the Royal Navy, the U.K. Met Office, Météo-France and CNMOC.
Oshen has raised $5 million in a funding round led by Lunar Ventures to expand production of its small autonomous ocean robots, which are designed to collect persistent data from remote and difficult-to-monitor parts of the sea.
AlbionVC, Twin Track Ventures and Concept Ventures also participated in the round, according to Lunar Ventures. The investor said Oshen has 100 additional robots on order and has increased production from 15 units over its first three years to 15 every six weeks.
Founded in 2022 by Anahita Laverack and Ciaran Dowds, the U.K.-based company develops C-Star, a roughly one-meter-long uncrewed surface vessel that uses wind and solar power and is designed to remain at sea for more than six months. The robots carry sensors for applications including weather and ocean monitoring and communicate through satellite links, according to the company.
Oshen deploys the robots individually or in swarms to provide continuous observations across larger areas of ocean. The company is targeting applications in climate monitoring, maritime security and infrastructure, where conventional ships and other sensing systems can be costly or provide only intermittent coverage.
The company gained attention last year when three C-Stars entered the eyewall of Category 5 Hurricane Humberto and transmitted measurements every two minutes despite waves reaching about 30 feet, according to NOAA. The mission made C-Star the first uncrewed surface vessel of its size to collect data from inside a Category 5 hurricane.
Customers include NOAA, the Royal Navy, the U.K. Met Office, Météo-France and CNMOC, according to Lunar Ventures. Oshen’s website says its robots have also been used in missions involving the U.K. Ministry of Defence and other government and research organizations.
