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Sealution
Techstars '21Oudenaarde, BE · Founded 2020 · 5 employees on LinkedIn · 4 known investors
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Sealution provides a plug-and-play connectivity solution for maritime vessels, enabling collection and transmission of sensor and IoT device data, particularly in below-deck environments where traditional wireless communication is inhibited. The company serves ship owners, operators, and charterers seeking to transform traditional vessels into smart ships capable of reliable, real-time data collection.
Also known as Sealution NV
Founders & leadership
Investors · 4
How we know: the Techstars portfolio · open dataset · Top 3000 Accelerator Startups (no YC) 2026-08 · research · siliconcanals.com · Not right? Tell us
Also in the syndicate · 2
Company profile
researched Sep 2026Sealution develops a maritime connectivity system that collects data from sensors and IoT devices on board ocean-going vessels and transports it to the bridge or control room. Its core product, the Gateway, is designed to twist in between any standard shipboard smoke detector, so installation requires no vessel modifications and can be performed by the crew. One gateway is placed per room; the devices receive data from sensors (connected over Bluetooth, chosen for its lower energy use) and send it over the ship's existing cabling to a central module that analyses, filters and ranks the data before transmitting it to a server for visualisation. The company positions this as a response to the fact that Wi-Fi, cellular and other wireless signals do not pass reliably through the steel structure of large vessels, particularly below deck.
The system is presented as modular, so multiple applications can be supported without additional hardware. Stated use cases include predictive maintenance of critical systems such as gearboxes, early fire and gas leak detection, data supply for automated vessel reporting, cargo condition and position monitoring including container cooling temperatures, fuel-saving analytics based on machine data and AI models, and crew safety functions such as automatic man-overboard alarms via wearables and locating crew members below deck. Sealution describes itself as a "connector" between IoT devices and ship owners or operators, with the aim of turning traditional merchant vessels into "smart ships" that improve vessel performance management, cargo care and onboard health and safety.
Founding story
Sealution was started by former maritime officer Sebastian Hamers (CEO) together with Ruben Verplancke (CFO) and Romeo Martens (CTO), combining technology and shipping backgrounds to address the lack of reliable wireless connectivity inside steel-hulled ocean-going vessels.
Business model
Sealution supplies hardware gateways and a central module together with software, positioning itself as an intermediary layer between onboard IoT devices and shipowners, operators and shore-based organisations. It works with third-party service providers for installation and maintenance, as in the November 2024 agreement under which Telemar installs and maintains the shipboard data collection technology.
Sources describe the collected data being used for fuel savings, preventive and predictive maintenance, and resale to relevant data aggregators such as insurance companies; specific pricing or contract structures are not stated.
Traction
Lloyd's Register issued an Approval in Principle for the Sealution Maritime Connectivity System in October 2023 and Type Approval for the Gateway in September 2024. A first full at-sea installation test was completed in January 2023 with Seatrade, and in November 2024 Telemar agreed to install and maintain the system for vessel operators. The team listed on the company website comprises six people across executive, engineering and business development roles, and the company states it is backed by leading accelerators.
Latest developments
On 11-12 November 2024, Telemar, a provider of smart maintenance and remote access technologies, announced an agreement with Sealution to support plug-and-play data collection for vessel operators, covering installation and maintenance of Sealution's connectivity system.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Sealution targets larger vessels with complex steel designs where wireless networks perform poorly, and contrasts its wired approach, which reuses existing cabling, with mesh-network based wireless alternatives that it says require more nodes and are more failure-prone on large ships. It states an aim to become the go-to platform at sea for sensor and IoT vendors, shipowners, charterers and operators.
Reuse of a vessel's existing fire-detection cabling for wired connectivity rather than wireless mesh networks, gateways that mount into standard smoke detector fittings for installation without vessel modification, a patented protocol that shares existing cabling without disrupting other data flows, and Lloyd's Register Type Approval.
Technology
The company's stated key intellectual property is a patented protocol for transmitting data over a vessel's existing cabling without disrupting other data flows. Gateways fit into standard smoke detector mountings, use Bluetooth to connect new sensors, and feed a central module that analyses, filters and ranks data for display on the bridge or in the control room. The wired approach is claimed to provide reliability and scalability independent of vessel size. Machine learning and AI models are described for fuel optimisation and predictive maintenance.
Go-to-market
Direct engagement with shipowners, operators and charterers via demo requests on its website, supplemented by partnerships with maritime service providers such as Telemar for installation and maintenance, class-society approvals from Lloyd's Register, and presence at maritime industry events and accelerator programmes.
Shipowners, ship charterers, ship operators, ship construction firms, maritime insurance companies, and sensor and IoT vendors.
Geography
Headquartered in Belgium, with press releases issued from Ghent and earlier coverage citing Sint-Martens-Latem. Activity described includes sea trials with a Dutch shipping company and participation in Hong Kong Maritime Week 2023.
History
The company was founded in 2021 by Sebastian Hamers, Ruben Verplancke and Romeo Martens and is headquartered in Belgium; early press described it as based in Sint-Martens-Latem, with later announcements issued from Ghent. In September 2022 it secured VLAIO innovation subsidies, and in January 2023 Hamers and Martens carried out the first full installation test at sea with Dutch shipping company Seatrade. A €1.3M funding round followed in February 2023, funding the shift from development to production. Lloyd's Register granted an Approval in Principle for the Sealution Maritime Connectivity System in October 2023 and Type Approval for the Gateway in September 2024. In November 2024 Telemar signed an agreement to install and maintain the technology for vessel operators.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 6
launches, deals, and filingsTelemar, a provider of smart maintenance and remote access technologies, signed an agreement with Sealution to support plug-and-play data collection for vessel operators, installing and maintaining Sealution's connectivity system, which combines the reliability of existing shipboard fire-detection cabling with sensor data collection.
Sealution announced from Ghent that its plug & play Gateway received Type Approval from Lloyd's Register.
Lloyd's Register awarded an Approval in Principle (AiP) to the Sealution Maritime Connectivity System in October 2023, during a year in which the company shifted from design and development to testing under real conditions and production.
Sealution announced total funding of €1,315,000: €800,000 in an equity round from Venture Studio Miles Ahead and investment fund Angelwise, €200,000 in convertible loans from Techstars and various business angels, and €315,000 in subsidies from Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO) obtained in September 2022. Capital earmarked for the shift from development to production lines.
Sebastian Hamers and Romeo Martens tested the full installation at sea for the first time with Dutch shipping company Seatrade; the company reported no loss of speed or data to the far end of the ship.
Sealution received €315,000 in subsidies through Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO); Venture Campus states it handled the subsidy track.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Sealutionsealution.io · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Sealution do?
- Belgian maritime IoT company whose plug-and-play gateway carries below-deck sensor data over a vessel's existing cabling.
- Who are Sealution's investors?
- Sealution's investors include Techstars, Angelwise.
- Where is Sealution headquartered?
- Sealution is headquartered in Oudenaarde, BE.