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Our Startups

OC Challenge Finalists & Award Accelerator Cohort 

2026

Teams selected

Meet our 2026 Startups  

18 founders and startups were selected from
88 applications across 50 countries in OCC2026 - the
Ocean Community Challenge 2026 edition.
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​9 finalist teams were invited to join the 2026 Award Accelerator launching September 2026.

18

Teams selected

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88

Applications

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50

Countries

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9

Award Accelerator Teams

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Schrödinger Technologie

Schrödinger Technologie develops the RienLIGHT Water Box, a solar-powered purification system for households, hospitals, schools, and disaster-affected communities. Their solution combines filtration, solar energy, and modular design to provide affordable safe water while reducing bottled-water dependence, plastic waste, and off-grid vulnerability.

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Pack Away

Pack Away is developing seaweed-based, home-compostable packaging that replaces single-use plastics without relying on fossil materials or arable land. Their approach combines renewable marine biomass with scalable production, helping brands reduce packaging waste while preventing plastic leakage into the ocean.

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AquaCircle

AquaCircle is building modular systems that transform aquaculture and coastal organic waste into valuable bio-based outputs. Their approach supports circular resource use in coastal industries, reducing pollution risks while creating new revenue streams from materials that would otherwise be discarded.

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Recycllux

Recycllux is building an AI-enabled operating system for marine recovery, connecting satellite detection, local cleanup coordination, and blockchain-based verification. Their platform helps companies and coastal communities fund, track, and prove plastic recovery, bringing transparency to marine cleanup and plastic credit markets.

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Green Brine Technologies

Green Brine Technologies  converts high-salinity desalination brine into useful industrial resources, including chloro-alkali products and recovered minerals. Their model reduces harmful ocean discharge while creating local supply chains for clean water, mining, and industrial sectors in Namibia.

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Nereia

NEREIA is developing non-toxic antifouling technology that keeps ship hulls smoother, reducing drag, fuel use, emissions, and maintenance needs. Their dual-mode surface system combines biofilm prevention with underwater activation, supporting cleaner maritime operations without relying on harmful chemical coatings.

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Climatenza

Climatenza develops solar heat technology that helps industrial sites replace fossil-powered process heat with cleaner, lower-cost thermal energy. Their solution supports factories in reducing emissions while keeping climate action commercially practical for sectors that depend on hot water, steam, and reliable industrial heat at scale.

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Sundew Bio

Sundew Bio develops Biokos, a biological treatment targeting aquatic pests and fish diseases such as Ich. By offering effective disease control with a benign environmental profile, they help aquaculture producers protect fish health, reduce losses, and limit reliance on harsher chemical treatments in blue food systems.

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Ocean Eye

Ocean Eye turns marine wildlife sightings into transparent micro-payments that fund conservation and coastal communities. By connecting tourists, operators, and local projects, their platform creates a practical finance loop where marine experiences directly support biodiversity recovery, ecosystem monitoring, and long-term ocean protection.

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Clima Fund

ClimaFund builds first-mile data infrastructure for blue carbon projects, combining satellite-based MRV with community-facing traceability tools. Their model helps coastal communities verify conservation work, access climate finance, and turn mangrove stewardship into sustainable long-term income through trusted data, transparency, and market access.

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OZeaon

Ozeaon is building a digital platform that connects education, collaboration, open calls, project visibility, partnerships, and funding pathways for regenerative innovation. By linking fragmented ocean and climate ecosystems, they help innovators, researchers, funders, and communities move ideas toward practical impact.

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Algrid

Algrid uses AI forecasting and offshore interception to manage sargassum blooms before they reach coastlines. By identifying optimal convergence points and turning collected sargassum into usable biomass, they help protect marine ecosystems, reduce tourism losses, and transform a growing ocean crisis into circular economic value.

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Phyco

PhyCo Technologies turns seaweed and upcycled organic waste into bio-based, earth-digestible biopolymers for films, coatings, and pellets. Their process offers a regenerative alternative to petroleum plastics, helping agri-food producers reduce plastic waste while creating scalable materials from ocean-based resources.

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DiveScout

DiveScout helps divers and ocean users choose safer sites by translating complex weather and water conditions into a simple traffic-light system. Their platform combines dive site data, live ocean conditions, visibility reports, and local knowledge, making ocean recreation safer, easier, and better connected.

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Windtracx

Windtracx develops autonomous kite propulsion for cargo ships, using high-altitude wind to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. Their drone-sail system combines kite efficiency with active control, offering shipowners a retrofit solution that saves costs while supporting compliance with cleaner shipping regulations.

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Sea Technology

Sea Technology International is developing the Sea Tech Floating Terminal, a fully automated floating container port for offshore transshipment. Their modular infrastructure expands port capacity without major land expansion or dredging, supporting more resilient maritime logistics, cleaner operations, and future green-fuel networks.

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Conceptos
plasticos

Conceptosplasticos are transforming hard-to-recycle plastic waste into durable construction materials,
Conceptosplasticos addresses both urban waste challenges and ocean-bound plastic leakage.
Their model combines circular design with social inclusion, creating affordable housing
while diverting significant volumes of plastic from the environment.

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Coral Collective

Coral Collective uses AI and image analysis to make reef monitoring faster and more accessible. Their tools help identify coral species, assess reef health, and detect bleaching from imagery. By combining technology with community-led conservation, Coral Collective supports stewards, researchers, and restoration teams in protecting coral ecosystems and building models for ocean resilience.

2025

Teams selected

Meet our 2025 Startups  

10 teams, of founders and startups, were selected from
48 applications and 27 countries in OCC2025 - the
Ocean Community Challenge 2025 edition.
​

​5 finalist teams were invited to join the 2025 Award Accelerator between September-December 2025.

10

Teams selected

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48

Applications

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27

Countries

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5

Award Accelerator Teams

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SAVEARTH

Savearth is an AI-powered, plug-and-play solution designed to help hotels monitor, optimize, and reduce water consumption in guest showers, tackling one of the biggest sustainability challenges in hospitality. By combining IoT, machine learning, and gamification, Savearth empowers hotels to lower operational costs, enhance guest engagement, and meet sustainability goals without disrupting the guest experience.

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SMARTDRY DREDGING

SmartDry Dredging changes the way dredging is done. From a non-sustainable, moving contaminants process to a sustainable contamination removal and creation of materials derived from the process to be used in circular economy solutions.

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NUTRICAPE

Nutricape Private Limited designs and manufactures nano-encapsulated nutrient delivery systems for aquaculture, with a current focus on shrimp feed. Their technology addresses critical challenges in shrimp farming—such as poor nutrient absorption, feed wastage, and water pollution—by using millifluidics-based nano-carriers that deliver nutrients with precision, stability, and bioavailability.

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SLOW MILL

Slow Mill Sustainable Power BV develops innovative, resilient and affordable technology to generate clean electricity from the ocean by harnessing oceans wave energy with a wave energy converter (WEC). Their patented technology shows a very high energy efficiency even during low and medium waves.

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WEAVEAIR

WeaveAir develops an integrated hardware and software platform for ports that helps asset operators, facility managers, utilities, and infrastructure owners to optimize operations, reduce environmental impact, and improve profitability by providing advanced monitoring, diagnostics, and decision-support capabilities.

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FREMANTLE SEAWEED

Fremantle Seaweed are a team of seafarers and scientists passionate about ocean conservation and tackling climate change. With a 32-hectare marine lease located in the pristine waters of Derbal Nara, Western Australia, they are working with the ocean to grow the red seaweed, Asparagopsis, which has been demonstrated to reduce methane emissions from cattle and other ruminate livestock by 80%.

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URBANBLUE TECHNOLOGIES

UrbanBlue Technologies revolutionizes wastewater treatment using advanced AI, computer vision, and IoT. Their flagship product, AquaPulse, is the world’s first AI-powered, in-situ microbial monitoring system, delivering real-time insights at the source. The company serves industrial plants, chemical manufacturers, sewage treatment facilities, and integrated water reuse systems, offering a smarter approach to wastewater management.

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BUOGRALON

This startup from Hong Kong focuses on the manufacturing of wave energy converters that harness the renewable ocean wave energy to: 1. produce on- and off-grid electricity 2. capture CO2 in both air and ocean 3. desalinate seawater into drinking- water

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SOLVINGE

As a primarily process technology venture with an innovative waste-to-value model, SolVinge aims to create sustainable, high-value products through developing and scaling proprietary bioconversion process, integrating Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) cultivation and filamentous fungi for nutrient enhancement. This circular approach provides a scalable solution for reducing waste and emissions across multiple industries.

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TRIGAN

TRIGAN is building the world's first "societal operating system" – a digital platform that helps communities of any size work better together and solve problems more effectively. Our goal is to empower people everywhere to create positive change in their local area and beyond, with support from cutting-edge technology.

2024

Proudly presenting the founders and Start-Ups we have supported during 2024

OCC2024 Team Testimonials

"Participating in the Ocean Community Innovation Challenge has been a transformative experience for the Fish n' Greens project team. The mentorship and feedback have provided us with great insights on improving our pitch, specifically in addressing meaningful challenges with clarity and precision. ..."

 


 

- Joao Cotter, Fish n' Greens (Portugal)

"Thank you and the team for taking our hand and guiding us through this tremendous opportunity. We were able to learn so much about how to present, how to gauge our audience, how to stand out and most importantly, we learned how we can use this opportunity to skyrocket our marketing. By adding the voting platform, you have given us a catalyst where we can engage our communities. ..."

​

- Genco Atalay, Vessel X (Turkey)

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KIDEMIS

KIDEMIS is a Swiss startup that is developing a sustainable alternative to fishmeal and fish oil for aquafeed. The company's mycoprotein aquafeed is produced from renewable resources and is a high-quality, cost-effective, and scalable alternative to traditional aquafeed.

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Bluetweet on Board, is an innovative system for monitoring water parameters on yachts, assessing their environmental impact during navigation. By integrating sensors and analysis tanks in vessels, they collect and analyze seawater data, providing yacht builders with a unique solution to enhance environmental sustainability.

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ecklien4ras

EC4RAS develops innovative land-based Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) using a unique Hybrid Electro-Chemical process to enhance sustainable seafood production. Their technology aims to transform global aquaculture by providing efficient, bio-secure, and environmentally friendly solutions that support food security and ESG targets.

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fish n' greens

Fish n' Greens is a pioneering project in Portugal that leverages nature-based, modular technology (SWIMSâ„¢) to establish commercially viable aquaponic units near cities. They are redefining urban food production with a closed-loop system that fosters the sustainable co-existence of fish and plant cultivation.

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eazy chain

Eazy Chain is a maritime startup that tackles slow cargo movement in West Africa. They offer a two-pronged solution: efficient feeder vessels delivering containers directly to smaller ports, and a user-friendly digital platform for booking and tracking.

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algaesys

Portuguese Algaesys provides a unique water, nutrient and energy recovering system that utilises algae, other natural phototrophic organisms and the power of the sun.

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exypno tech

ExypnoTech offers advanced fish farming solutions with their EyeFish device, using cameras and smart software for real-time monitoring of fish health and feeding. Their technology boosts productivity and sustainability in aquaculture, ensures food security and protect wild fish population.

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coldharbour tiles

Coldharbour Tiles is a luxury eco-tile brand developed by a German female founder, and the solution recycles plastics from fishing nets to manufacture floor- and wall tiles.

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vessel x

Vatoz is an autonomous marine vessel developed by a team in Turkey, that efficiently collects waste and monitors environmental parameters in coastal areas. It serves coastal communities and environmental agencies by providing real-time data and reducing pollution.

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capture plastic

C Plastic aims at developing a solution to capture and convert plastic waste into credits for companies, promoting a circular economy and cleaner ecosystems. Their objective is to reduce marine and coastal pollution, empower local communities and support sustainable recycling practices.

Meet Teams from past Challenges 

"OCC provided a platform for us to grow as entrepreneurs; By providing an excellent business coach as well as a panel of angel investors, to which we had never pitched to before, we were able to refine our business model and pitch tailored towards investment.”​

ReShore, 1st prize winners OCC 2020

"One of the things I love about OCC is their dedication and that they are committed to support their participants."

SOSO Care, 2nd prize winners, OCC 2020

ChiNet, finalists OCC 2021

ChiNet, finalists OCC 2021

"Thank you for making these meetings happen. They were very valuable and I am sure we will be able to leverage those connections in the future. Thank you for guiding the discussions, it was very thoughtful of you"

AlgoBio, 1st prize winners OCC 2021

AlgoBio, 1st prize winners OCC 2021
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