With thousands of climate leaders in Miami Beach this week, 501c3 Seaworthy Collective has announced its fourth cohort – its first that is primarily made up of female founders.
The BlueTech entrepreneur support organization and community is focused on enabling ocean and climate impact innovation. While its remit is global, South Florida is Seaworthy’s home and a focus of much of its efforts. Since launching three years ago, the organization has already worked with 33 startups and 67 founders.
“Seaworthy’s fourth cohort continues to reinforce Seaworthy’s commitment and leadership in our mission to make BlueTech accessible and inclusive,” Seaworthy Collective founder and CEO Daniel Kleinman said in a statement.
“Not only is it the first time we are supporting a cohort of majority female founders, but it’s also our second cohort in a row with majority local representation, a testament to the growing regional ecosystem that Seaworthy has put years of community programming to spur development,” Kleinman continued.
“We’re incredibly proud of our local and global community’s role in continuing to grow the early-stage BlueTech startup pipeline with diverse talent and ideas that are representative of the thought leaders and solutions of the future.”
This year, Seaworthy Collective selected seven startups out of more than 100 applicants – each leveraging tech, data, and scientific innovations to tackle critical environmental challenges such as coastal resilience and adaptation, upstream and downstream pollution, and greenhouse gas reduction and removal. Four of these startups are based in South Florida.
The three-month Startup Studio and Incubator program is free for participants, and there’s no equity dilution. This is all thanks to various partnership deals that the Seaworthy team has secured this year, including with Salesforce and the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Growth Accelerator Fund. Through the program, founders will connect with Seaworthy’s network of 2,250 members, 250 mentors, and a worldwide coalition of investors with over $1 billion in combined assets. The program culminates with Seaworthy’s startup Showcase on May 23rd at Ampersand Studios, which is open to the public.
Meet the startups!
- Green Thumb Strategies & Phytoflora (Miami): Employing floating farms for water remediation and sustainable agriculture.
- Igugu Global (Miami): Aiming to bridge Africa’s $1.5 trillion sustainable infrastructure funding gap by building a climate fintech solution.
- Sargassum EcoLumber (Homestead): Turning Sargassum seaweed and recycled plastics into eco-friendly lumber.
- Strawfish (Boca Raton): Pioneering biodegradable alternatives to single-use plastic, offering .
- CASTUS Technologies (San Francisco): Leveraging AI and ocean meteorological data to find and track floating objects like plastic debris and oil spills in oceans, seas, and rivers. It combines this with satellite imagery to confirm accuracy, providing reliable results.
- Coastal Protection Solutions (Boston): Providing innovative coastal protection systems, specializing in patent-pending technologies designed to mitigate the impacts of climate change-induced coastal flooding.
- The Upwelling Institute (Oakland): Leveraging artificial upwellings to cool and regenerate vulnerable ecosystems.
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