Ocean Intelligence

What Ocean Intelligence does

Ocean Intelligence is a privately held New Zealand SaaS company headquartered in Nelson that builds and operates the OI Platform, a unified marine intelligence system integrating local sensors, numerical oceanographic forecasts and operational data into a single operational view. The platform is built on the combination of marine science and monitoring capability from the Cawthron Institute and oceanographic modelling and data systems capability from Oceanum, and is delivered as three specialised deployment modules: Aquaculture Intelligence (water quality, biosecurity triggers, harvest timing), Port & Coastal Monitoring (wave and current forecasts, under-keel clearance inputs, dynamic mooring analysis), and Coastal Research & Monitoring (hardware-agnostic QA/QC pipelines, public-facing portals, regulatory reporting). The company is led by CEO Joel Bowater, CTO Gabriel Valente and Managing Director Dr. Peter McComb, with Dr. Dave Johnson serving as Technical Advisor, and currently operates with 1-10 employees serving aquaculture operators, port and coastal operators, and councils and research organisations in New Zealand.

The product architecture is described as production-grade and designed for dependable day-to-day decision support rather than analyst dashboards, with seven-day environmental forecasts, SMS/email threshold alerts, and hardware-agnostic data ingestion positioned as core to day-to-day operational utility. The platform addresses an information-overload problem in marine operations — multiple sensor feeds, forecast models and operational data sources that are difficult to interpret together in time-sensitive harvest, berth and monitoring contexts.

The commercial model is quote-based, undisclosed enterprise SaaS with annual billing cadence; customer engagement is via contact form and direct email, with a stated typical response time of under 24 hours. Distribution is direct enterprise sales led by the founding team, with no self-service channel. Pricing and contract values are not publicly disclosed. Funding to date consists of approximately $147K in two grant-style rounds (Ocean Impact Organisation, 2024-09-14; CivTech, 2026-01-22), and operating geographies are restricted to New Zealand.

Name

Ocean Intelligence

Legal name

Ocean Intelligence

Website

https://oceanintelligence.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Ocean Intelligence is a Nelson, New Zealand-based private SaaS company that provides a unified marine intelligence platform — integrating sensors, oceanographic forecasts and operational data — for aquaculture operators, port operators, and councils and research organisations, primarily within New Zealand.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Marine Environmental Monitoring Software

NAICS

Navigational Services to Shipping (488330), Other Support Activities for Water Transportation (48839)

SIC

Water Transportation (4400)

akta.pro primary industry

Marine Sensors, Instrumentation & IoT (Condition Monitoring) (IMAJAJAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Maritime EDI / API Connectivity & Messaging Networks (TLAHAOAE)

Keywords

• Marine monitoring software
• Aquaculture intelligence
• Ocean forecasting analytics
• Coastal monitoring platform
• Port operations data

Headquarters

HQ city

Nelson

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. SaaS Platform Subscriptions: Ocean Intelligence provides its OI Platform as a managed service to marine operators, likely through annual subscription contracts. The platform is delivered through production-grade data systems designed for day-to-day operational use across aquaculture, port operations, and coastal monitoring.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Ocean Intelligence sells the OI Platform, a managed SaaS data system that unifies local marine sensors, numerical ocean forecasting models, and environmental monitoring data into a single operational view for marine teams. It is delivered through three deployments: Aquaculture Intelligence (water quality, biosecurity, and harvest timing for fish/shellfarm farmers), Port & Coastal Operations (wave/current forecasts, under-keel clearance, and mooring analysis for ports), and Coastal Research & Monitoring (QA/QC pipelines and public-facing portals for councils and research organisations). Customers subscribe annually with custom quote-based pricing tied to deployment scope and sensor count.

Product overview

Ocean Intelligence offers The OI Platform as a unified core product that integrates monitoring, forecasts, and operational data across three specialized deployments: Aquaculture Intelligence for fish farm environmental monitoring and harvest timing; Port Operations for berth and coastal scheduling decisions; and Coastal Research & Monitoring for council observing programmes. The platform is built on marine science from Cawthron Institute and ocean modelling from Oceanum, providing production-grade data delivery for aquaculture, port, and coastal environment decisions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The OI Platform Unified operational SaaS platform that integrates local marine sensors, numerical ocean forecasting models, and environmental monitoring data into a single working view, enabling marine teams to track conditions, judge timing, and act before conditions shift. Built on a partnership between the Cawthron Institute (marine science) and Oceanum (ocean modelling and data systems).
• Aquaculture Intelligence Environmental intelligence deployment for aquaculture operators (fish and shellfish farmers) providing near-real-time temperature and salinity monitoring, chlorophyll-a and turbidity tracking, early warning for harvest closures, seven-day environmental forecasts, and SMS/email alerts to protect stock and time harvest windows.
• Port Operations Operational ocean monitoring deployment for port and coastal operators offering high-resolution wave and current forecasts, under-keel clearance inputs, dynamic mooring analysis support, wind/tide/current outlooks, and operational threshold alerts for berth and vessel scheduling decisions.
• Coastal Research & Monitoring Managed coastal monitoring deployment for councils and research teams providing hardware-agnostic data visualisation, data QA/QC pipelines, public-facing web portals, long-term trend analysis, and regulatory reporting support for long-duration coastal observing programmes.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Cawthron InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCawthron Institute provides depth in marine science and monitoring capabilities. Their expertise in marine science underpins the credibility and scientific rigour of Ocean Intelligence's platform and data delivery. The partnership brings together Cawthron's research capabilities with Ocean Intelligence's operational data systems.
• OceanumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOceanum contributes expertise in ocean modelling and data systems. Combined with Cawthron Institute's marine science capabilities, Oceanum helps ensure the platform delivers production-grade data systems that can be trusted in the field for day-to-day marine operations.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• AKVA Group: AKVA Group is a global supplier of technology and services to the aquaculture industry, including environmental sensors, feeding systems, and operational software. It is a direct peer for OI's Aquaculture Intelligence deployment because it sells monitoring and decision-support tools to fish farmers with similar use cases (water quality, biomass, harvest decisions).
• Saildrone: Saildrone operates autonomous uncrewed surface vehicles that collect ocean and meteorological data, feeding an ocean data and analytics platform. It competes for the same 'ocean intelligence' thesis and overlaps with OI's port and coastal monitoring deployments, although it owns the sensor hardware whereas OI is hardware-agnostic.
• Aquatic Informatics (Xylem): Aquatic Informatics, now part of Xylem, provides water-data management and analytics software for environmental monitoring agencies, aquaculture, and research organisations. It directly overlaps with OI's Coastal Research & Monitoring deployment, particularly the data QA/QC, public portal, and regulatory reporting capabilities.
• Sofar Ocean: Sofar builds a marine intelligence platform combining in-house ocean sensors, global ocean models, and operational dashboards for shipping, port, and ocean-health customers. It is the closest direct peer to Ocean Intelligence, addressing the same problem (unifying monitoring, forecast, and operational data) for overlapping customer segments.

Broad incumbents

• Aanderaa Data Instruments (AADI): Aanderaa is an established oceanographic instrument manufacturer supplying sensors for water quality, currents, and waves used in aquaculture, port, and research applications. It is a broad incumbent peer because it sits upstream in the marine monitoring stack whose data OI integrates.
• DTN: DTN provides operational weather, ocean, and environmental data services to industries including agriculture, energy, and maritime. It is a broad incumbent comparable to OI on the data-platform and decision-support side, particularly for ports and coastal operations.
• RBR Global: RBR designs and manufactures high-precision oceanographic instruments used in coastal and aquaculture monitoring. Like Aanderaa, it competes upstream of OI in the sensor layer and is comparable as a marine-data hardware incumbent.
• Kongsberg Maritime: Kongsberg Maritime is a large incumbent in marine operations technology, offering vessel traffic services, port solutions, and ocean monitoring systems. It overlaps with OI's port and coastal deployment but operates as a broad portfolio vendor rather than a focused, data-integration-only SaaS player.

Emerging players

• Steinsvik (Akva Design): Steinsvik, part of the Akva ecosystem, supplies sensors, feeding systems, and operational software to the salmon-farming industry. It is an emerging player peer for OI's aquaculture deployment, with overlapping water-quality and farm-management use cases but a more limited geographic footprint.
• Planet Ocean: Planet Ocean provides oceanographic monitoring sensors and decision-support tools for ports, harbours, and coastal authorities. It is an emerging player peer to OI's Port & Coastal Monitoring deployment, with comparable high-resolution wave, current, and environmental monitoring use cases.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ocean Intelligence