Seven ocean-focused startups celebrate graduation from BlueSwell program at New England Aquarium

*PHOTOS AVAILABLE HERE WITH CREDIT TO JONATHAN CLANCY* 

*A RECORDING OF THE BLUESWELL PRESENTATIONS IS ALSO AVAILABLE HERE* 

BOSTON, Mass. (March 19, 2025) – Entrepreneurs from seven high-impact bluetech startups have graduated from the BlueSwell program after presenting their plans for the future at the annual Demo Day event. The teams have been participating in the program for six months, working with scientists from the New England Aquarium and business strategists from SeaAhead to launch and scale new companies that enhance ocean health, sustainable ocean industry, and global resilience.  

Now in its fifth year, BlueSwell is a first-of-its-kind accelerator program in the Northeast focused on supporting early-stage entrepreneurship in bluetech. The program has been supporting Cohort V since September 2024. The goal is to bridge gaps among innovators, ocean experts, industry leaders, and the venture community, enabling a path toward commercialization. BlueSwell is a partnership between SeaAhead, Inc. and the New England Aquarium.  

On March 6, the seven teams gave presentations at the New England Aquarium and provided demonstrations of their work. Graduating from the program are: 

• ARMADA Marine Robotics – Brings scalable infrastructure to marine monitoring, allowing for an efficient and flexible new method to collect vital ocean data.​ During Demo Day, they demonstrated several pieces of hardware on hand to visually demonstrate their technology. 

• Coastal Measures – Offers an AI-powered data hub that enables customers to unify data streams and gain unprecedented insight into environmental behavior through an intuitive user interface. They showcased how different data streams can be brought together to provide environmental insights. 

• Crewless Marine – Provides low-cost, low-power, and scalable passive acoustic devices for uncrewed surface vehicles, undersea vehicles, and acoustic monitoring stations. These sensors allow for acoustic monitoring of marine mammals and shipping traffic to ensure ocean noise pollution does not negatively impact marine species. They demonstrated one of their passive acoustic sensor arrays at Demo Day.  

• Dottir Labs – Building advanced, real-time sensing systems for monitoring inland aquaculture and other aquatic environments. This enables decision-makers to safeguard ocean and water ecosystems while sustainably meeting global food demands. During the event, they demonstrated their water monitoring system. 

• HydroPhos Solutions – Utilizes filtration technology to extract phosphorus from wastewater and resell it in a form that is directly usable in fertilizer, addressing eutrophication (excessive amounts of nutrients in the ocean often due to runoff) and the global phosphorus shortage of these nutrients. They demonstrated a mini functional model of their phosphorous removal system. 

• Kai Pono Solutions – Replaces conventional stormwater drainage with a high-performing filtration system that can be placed in the curb and gutter line. This provides a proactive approach to mitigating stormwater pollution by removing trash, harmful chemicals, and other pollutants from urban runoff.​ At the event, the company had a 3D-printed tabletop model of the filtration system. 

• WATABOT – Integrates cutting-edge robotics and AI to provide real-time, accurate monitoring and early warning systems for harmful algal blooms (HAB) and other water contaminants. This technology enhances the safety of water resources and contributes significantly to environmental conservation, public health protection, and the sustainable management of clean water. They demonstrated a prototype water sensor and robot for HAB detection. 

BlueSwell provides teams with $25,000 of funding; access to leaders from industry, investment, academia, government, and NGOs; a cohort of peer companies to learn from; and mentorship, including a hybrid curriculum designed to improve their leadership skills and business acumen. The accelerator program includes six months of individualized guidance from SeaAhead; the Aquarium’s ocean science, policy, and advising arm (the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life); an extended network of advisors; and coworking space for the length of the program at the Cambridge Innovation Center in Kendall Square. 

“Over the last six months, we have seen these startups grow immensely, and their innovations are poised to have a great impact on the blue economy,” said Dr. John Mandelman, Vice President and Chief Scientist of the Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life. “Collaborating with companies toward ocean-friendly practices is a crucial element of our work at the New England Aquarium, and these startups have stepped up to the challenge.” 

“Each startup from Cohort V proves that innovation inspired by and for our ocean can fundamentally change the way conventional business is done, for the benefit of all,” said Alissa Peterson, CEO and Co-Founder of SeaAhead. “Supporting and investing in bluetech is the key to a bright future for the ocean and humanity.” 

The BlueSwell program is made possible by sponsoring foundations, public sector entities, companies, and individuals that prioritize the ocean as a source of solutions, including Builders Initiative, Oceankind, the Innovation Institute at the MassTech Collaborative, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, the U.S. Economic Development Agency, the URI Research Foundation, Cambridge Innovation Center, UMass Boston, Giant Shoulders, Foley Hoag, and the generous support of private family foundations and individuals.  

MEDIA CONTACT:

Pam Bechtold Snyder, Director of Marketing & Communications, New England Aquarium – psnyder@neaq.org  

Julia Pangan, BlueSwell Program Manager, SeaAhead – julia.pangan@sea-ahead.com