The ocean has always been Miami’s backyard. Now, a local investment firm is betting it’s also the next frontier of technological disruption.
Mare Liberum, based in Miami, announced the formation of its second fund, targeting critical technologies reshaping the maritime domain.
The firm has received approval from the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Pentagon to access up to $150 million in low-cost government-guaranteed leverage, and is now raising additional capital from institutional investors.
The fund’s thesis points to hard numbers: Maritime infrastructure moves over 80% of global goods by volume and carries 99% of international data through undersea cables, yet the sector remains one of the last major industrial systems still running on legacy technology. The firm sees that gap as an opportunity.
“What railroads were to the 19th century and aviation to the 20th, ocean infrastructure will be to the 21st,” said Admiral Lorin Selby (Ret.), General Partner at Mare Liberum, citing AI, autonomous platforms, and digital engineering as the forces doing the rebuilding.
Mare Liberum invests at the intersection of critical technology and the sea, backing founders building autonomous maritime platforms, maritime domain awareness software, resilient supply chain technologies, and counter-UAS and force protection capabilities.
The firm’s broader thesis extends to three macro tailwinds it sees converging: the rise of asymmetric naval warfare, global trade realignment away from China, and growing ocean exploration driven by the energy transition.
General Partner Marc Baliotti added, “The convergence of AI, autonomy and advanced manufacturing is already reshaping maritime operations, and the organizations that recognize this now will help define the next era of global trade.”
Mare Liberum was selected as one of a limited number of funds following a rigorous review by the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital, which was established to mobilize private investment into sectors where commercial and national security interests intersect.
For a city that has long positioned itself as a gateway to global trade, Mare Liberum’s latest fund highlights Miami’s growing ambition to be more than a waypoint, backing the technologies that will define how the world moves goods, data, and power across the water.
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