Seasats
Seasats builds autonomous surface vessels for ocean intelligence, defence, survey and scientific missions. Its Lightfish platform is a long-endurance solar-electric ASV designed for months-long operations, modular payloads and remote ocean data collection.
Market context
Seasats matters as a defense-focused maritime robotics company using smaller USVs for persistent coverage rather than large traditional naval platforms.
Facts
- Website: https://www.seasats.com/
- HQ: San Diego, California, United States
- Founded: 2020
- Segment: defense robotics
- Known funding rounds: 2
Investors
- Shield Capital - Lead - Vc - 2 funding events - repeat backer - first seen 2025-02-05 - latest 2026-02-17
- Techstars - Participant - Unknown - 2 funding events - repeat backer - first seen 2025-02-05 - latest 2026-02-17
- Crumpton Ventures - Participant - Vc - 1 funding event - first seen 2026-02-17
- DNS Capital - Participant - Vc - 1 funding event - first seen 2026-02-17
- Dorado Group - Participant - Angel / Individual - 1 funding event - first seen 2026-02-17
- Konvoy Ventures - Lead - Vc - 1 funding event - first seen 2026-02-17
- Tanis Venture Management - Participant - Vc - 1 funding event - first seen 2026-02-17
- Aero X Ventures - Participant - Vc - 1 funding event - first seen 2025-02-05
Commercial
2 commercial events; 2 contract awards; 1 named customer; $113M disclosed obligated value; latest event 2026-01-15
- 2026-01-15 - Contract award - Seasats awarded $24M APFIT funding to accelerate fielding of autonomous surface vessels - Autonomous surface vessel fielding (Navy / Marine Corps backed) - $24M obligated - source: prnewswi…
- 2025-10-07 - Contract award - Seasats awarded $89M U.S. Navy SBIR Phase 3 IDIQ contract - U.S. Navy - Navy / Marine Corps autonomous maritime demand - $89M obligated - source: prnewswire.com
Autonomous surface vessel company
Seasats develops autonomous surface vehicles for persistent maritime sensing, surveillance and ocean data collection.
- Target environment: Open ocean, coastal waters, maritime security zones, defence monitoring areas and offshore data collection routes.
- Deployment model: ASV platform development and deployment through small autonomous vessels, payloads and maritime mission support.
- Customer context: Defence customers, ocean researchers, offshore operators, maritime security users and environmental monitoring teams.
- Workflow context: Persistent ocean sensing, maritime surveillance, environmental data capture, remote monitoring and autonomous surface operations.
- Commercial maturity: Commercial maritime robotics company with autonomous surface vehicle product and deployment activity.
- Market position: Marine robotics company building low-cost autonomous surface vessels for persistent ocean missions.
- Adoption constraints: Adoption depends on sea-state performance, payload compatibility, communications, endurance, customer mission design and fleet support.
- Adjacent context: Adjacent context includes USVs, ocean monitoring, maritime autonomy, surface drones and persistent sensing.
- Source confidence: high
Events
- 2026-05-27 - Capability - Seasats Lightfish completes autonomous Taiwan Strait transit - Seasats said its Lightfish uncrewed surface vessel completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. The vessel crossed the full length of the strait over five days while monitoring vessel traffic and capturing imagery of Chinese naval vessels. The…
- 2026-03-17 - Capability - Seasats Quickfish USV completes continuous eight-day sea trial - Seasats announced the successful completion of an eight-day continuous sea trial for Quickfish. The test emphasized the platform's mix of 35+ knot sprint speed, multi-week designed endurance, and modular mission configuration. The update strengthened the case…
- 2026-03-03 - Partnership - RS Aqua and Seasats announce strategic partnership for the UK and Ireland defence market - RS Aqua announced a strategic partnership with Seasats to bring the company's autonomous surface vessels to the UK and Ireland defence market. The arrangement covered representation and support for the Seasats portfolio, with Lightfish and Quickfish highlight…
- 2026-02-17 - Funding - Seasats raises $20M Series A to scale production of small uncrewed surface vehicles - Konvoy Ventures led a $20 million Series A for Seasats, with Shield Capital, DNS Capital, Techstars, Tanis Venture Management, Crumpton Ventures, and Dorado Group also participating. Seasats said the capital would expand production and product development for…
- 2026-01-15 - Contract Award - Seasats awarded $24M APFIT funding to accelerate fielding of autonomous surface vessels - Seasats was selected for a $24 million APFIT award to accelerate procurement, production, and scaling of its autonomous surface vessels. The award followed Navy and Marine Corps-backed progress and explicitly referenced the company's Lightfish-led defense pro…
- 2025-11-12 - Partnership - Seasats and Elysium EPL sign reseller agreement for autonomous surface vessels in Australia and New Zealand - Seasats signed a formal reseller agreement making Elysium EPL its exclusive reseller in Australia and New Zealand. The agreement covered regional sales, integration, and front-line support, building on operational work that achieved AMSA certification for Lig…
- 2025-10-20 - Product Launch - Seasats unveils Quickfish, a high-speed long-endurance autonomous surface vessel - Seasats unveiled Quickfish during a U.S. Navy exercise off the California coast. The platform introduced a faster interceptor-style vessel with sprint speeds above 35 knots, modular payloads, and a concealed UAV launch bay. The launch expanded Seasats beyond…
- 2025-10-07 - Contract Award - Seasats awarded $89M U.S. Navy SBIR Phase 3 IDIQ contract - Seasats was awarded an $89 million SBIR Phase III IDIQ contract tied to Navy and Marine Corps demand for autonomous maritime systems. The company linked the award to prior operational milestones, including the Lightfish Pacific crossing and related defense ac…
- 2025-07-30 - Capability - Seasats autonomous surface vessel crosses the Pacific and completes a 7,500+ mile mission - A Seasats Lightfish completed an autonomous Pacific crossing of more than 7,500 miles over 150 days. The mission demonstrated long-endurance reliability on the company's flagship small unmanned surface vessel rather than a short-range trial profile. Endurance…
- 2025-02-05 - Funding - Seasats secures $10M funding round amid rising demand for autonomous vessels - Shield Capital led a $10 million financing round for Seasats, with participation from Aero X Ventures and Techstars. The company tied the round to hiring and international sales expansion as demand increased for its Lightfish autonomous surface vessel. The ro…
Team
- Mike Flanigan - Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer
Context tags
- Autonomous surface navigation - Capability - Lightfish is an autonomous surface vessel.
- Autonomous surface vessel OEM - Stack Layer - Seasats builds complete Lightfish ASV systems.
- Autonomous surface vessel operations - Workflow - Lightfish is an autonomous surface vessel designed for persistent missions.
- Maritime surface autonomy builder - Peer Group - Seasats builds Lightfish autonomous surface vessels.
- Long-endurance maritime autonomy - Capability - Lightfish completed a 7,500-mile Pacific mission and is built for persistent survey.
- Naval defence customers - Customer Environment - Seasats says Lightfish has been used with U.S. Navy and commercial customers.
- Commercial deployment - Commercial Stage - Lightfish has been used with U.S. Navy and commercial customers since early 2023.
- Ocean research and mapping - Customer Environment - Lightfish is relevant to survey, ocean science and maritime data missions.
- Maritime domain awareness - Workflow - Seasats Lightfish has defence and commercial customer use and maritime monitoring relevance.
- Ocean data robotics - Peer Group - Lightfish supports persistent survey, ocean and maritime missions.
- Ocean mapping - Workflow - Lightfish persistent survey use supports mapping and ocean survey context.
Customers and deployments
- Award Value Usd - US$24 million APFIT award - 2026-01-15 - U.S. Department of War - autonomous surface vessel fielding - Seasats received a $24 million APFIT award to accelerate procurement, production, and scaling of i…
- Contract Ceiling - US$89 million IDIQ - 2025-10-07 - U.S. Navy / Marine Corps - autonomous maritime systems procurement - Seasats was awarded an $89 million SBIR Phase III IDIQ contract tied to Navy and Marine Corps dem…
Seasats canonical Korthos profile