What Ocean AID does

Ocean AID is a Victoria, BC-based marine technology company that builds edge AI hardware and software for real-time automatic target recognition (ATR) on boats. Its flagship product, the Marlin Box, is a marine-grade edge AI computing device built on NVIDIA Jetson Orin chips (T40 with 67 TOPS, T120 with 157 TOPS) that runs proprietary machine-vision models on-device without requiring internet connectivity. The core AI capability is a sonar fish ATR system trained on 100,000+ captain-labeled target signatures, delivering real-time fish detection, sizing, bait ball and downrigger line identification, side-scan sonar detection of ghost gear and underwater traps, and bird's-eye heatmaps for hotspot navigation. The system integrates with existing boat sonar and multi-function displays, and is supported by the Ocean Hub cloud dashboard for trip data, trend analysis, and shared sessions.

The company makes money primarily through hardware sales of the Marlin Box product line to sport fishing customers via a direct e-commerce channel ($50 reservation system for the 2026 season launch, capped at 50 units initially), with an implied subscription component for Ocean Hub cloud services. A second revenue stream is custom ATR solutions for commercial marine operators, sold via direct sales and demo booking on multi-year contracts, applying the same AI/edge expertise to sonar, lidar, and video imaging for commercial vessels. The company is targeting three customer segments: sport fishing / tidal anglers (primary), commercial marine operations (secondary), and ocean cleanup / environmental organizations (tertiary, supported by side-scan sonar ghost gear detection). The business model emerged from a 2023-origin ocean restoration initiative that pivoted to commercial markets after grant funding declined, and is sustained by an environmental impact commitment (10 lbs of ghost gear and ocean plastic removed per box sold) that ties product sales to the original mission. The company is privately held, founder-owned, and pre-revenue, with a 9-person team led by co-founders Andrew Polanyi (CEO) and Archit Kumar (CTO).

Name

Ocean AID

Legal name

OCEAN AID

Website

https://oceanaid.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Ocean AID builds marine-grade edge AI hardware (Marlin Box) running proprietary computer-vision models for real-time fish detection, sizing, and ghost-gear mapping, sold to sport fishers and commercial marine operators.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Marine AI Hardware

NAICS

Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical, and Nautical System and Instrument Manufacturing (334511)

SIC

Industrial Instruments For Measurement, Display, And Control (3823)

akta.pro primary industry

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

akta.pro secondary industries

Fishing Electronics & Marine Tech Retail (Fishfinders, GPS, Sonar) (CRAMALAH), Electrical, Automation & Control Systems (Power, PLC/SCADA, Navigation/Comms Integration) (TLAHAMAE)

Keywords

• Edge AI hardware
• Marine computer vision
• Fish detection systems
• Automatic target recognition
• Marine electronics

Headquarters

HQ city

Victoria

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Marlin AI Hardware Boxes: Sale of Marlin T40, T120, and upcoming T5000 commercial edge AI boxes. Hardware products sold directly to sport fishers and commercial marine operators. One-time purchase with 1-year warranty.
2. Ocean Hub Subscription Services: Cloud dashboard for data sync, fishing reports, trend analysis, and map downloads. Implied subscription component for ongoing access to cloud services and data storage.
3. Custom ATR Solutions: Custom automatic target recognition solutions for businesses using sonar, lidar, video, and other marine imaging. Turnkey AI solutions for commercial marine operations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Ocean AID designs and sells marine-grade edge AI hardware (the Marlin Box T40 and T120) and companion software that perform real-time fish detection, sizing, and mapping from sonar feeds on boats without internet connectivity. The company also offers the Ocean AID Fishing app, the Ocean Hub cloud dashboard for trip analytics, and Custom ATR (Automatic Target Recognition) solutions for commercial marine operators working with sonar, lidar, and video imaging.

Product overview

Ocean AID offers a unified product ecosystem combining edge AI hardware with specialized marine intelligence software. The core Marlin Box serves as the central processing hub, available in three configurations: T40 (entry-level), T120 (high-performance), and T5000 Commercial (enterprise-grade, under development). The Ocean AID Fishing app runs on Marlin hardware to deliver AI-powered fish detection, size classification, and mapping for sport anglers. Ocean Hub provides cloud-based data sync and analytics. Custom ATR Solutions offer business-specific automatic target recognition services for sonar, lidar, and video marine imaging. All Marlin box purchases support ocean plastic removal (10 lbs per box sold).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Marlin: Marlin is the AI hardware product line including Marlin T40, Marlin T120, and Marlin T5000 Commercial - edge AI computing boxes designed for marine environments with Nvidia chips.
• Ocean AID Fishing
• Ocean Hub

Products and services

• Marlin T40 Entry-level marine-grade edge AI hardware box powered by an Nvidia Jetson Orin Nano 8GB SUPER (67 TOPS), 6-core CPU, IP67-rated corrosion-resistant enclosure, and three power modes (7W/15W/25W). Designed for sport fishing boats to run on-device real-time fish detection from existing sonar without internet.
• Marlin T120 High-performance marine-grade edge AI hardware box powered by an Nvidia Jetson Orin NX 16GB SUPER (157 TOPS), 8-core CPU, and four power modes (10W/15W/25W/40W), with 8K30 video encode/decode. Built for demanding sport fishing and advanced imaging use cases, running entirely on-device.
• Ocean AID Fishing App
• Ocean Hub
• Custom ATR Solutions

Quantifiable outcome

• Each Marlin box sold removes 10 lbs of ghost gear and ocean plastic from Canadian coastlines
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

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 capability8 records

Feature8 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Others

• Hailo: Hailo is an edge AI chipmaker whose accelerators compete with NVIDIA Jetson in on-device inference. It is a technology enabler rather than a direct competitor, but its roadmap directly affects the cost and performance envelope Ocean AID can target with its Marlin hardware line.

Broad incumbents

• Humminbird: Humminbird is a major recreational sonar and fishfinder brand (owned by Johnson Outdoors) with imaging products such as Mega Live that target the same tidal angler and bass boat segments as Ocean AID's Marlin T40/T120.
• FLIR Systems (Teledyne FLIR): Teledyne FLIR supplies marine thermal imaging, machine vision, and sonar products to recreational and commercial marine markets. It is comparable to Ocean AID on the marine sensing/instrumentation axis and serves as the parent of Raymarine.
• Raymarine: Raymarine (FLIR Systems) supplies marine electronics, including sonar and thermal imaging, with strong penetration in coastal sport fishing and light commercial markets. Its RealVision and Dragonfly sonar lines compete directly with Ocean AID's hardware on recreational boats.
• Navico (Lowrance, Simrad): Navico owns Lowrance and Simrad, two of the most widely used sport fishing and commercial sonar brands, and has shipped AI-assisted imaging products (e.g., Lowrance ActiveTarget). It is a broad incumbent that overlaps directly with Ocean AID's target buyers.
• Garmin: Garmin is the dominant marine electronics incumbent with extensive sonar, MFD, and chartplotter offerings including AI-augmented live sonar (LiveScope). It competes with Ocean AID across the sport fishing market but is a broad, diversified player rather than a specialist in edge AI for marine object recognition.
• Furuno: Furuno is a long-standing Japanese marine electronics manufacturer known for professional-grade fishfinders, sonar, and radar used in both commercial and sport fishing. It represents a relevant incumbent comparable on the navigation/detection product axis even though it does not yet ship a dedicated edge AI fish recognition product.

Emerging players

• BlueRobotics: BlueRobotics supplies marine robotics components, sonars, and underwater platforms used for hydrographic survey, environmental monitoring, and ghost gear detection. It is a partial overlap as a marine sensing platform provider with similar environmental applications.
• SeaMachine Robotics: Sea Machines builds autonomous and AI-enabled marine perception systems for commercial vessels, overlapping with Ocean AID's custom ATR and sensor fusion roadmap for commercial marine operations. It is an emerging player in marine AI rather than recreational fishfinding.

Direct peers

• Zunibal: Zunibal develops AI-driven fish detection and electronic monitoring systems used in commercial tuna fisheries and is increasingly relevant to sport fishing. It is a direct peer in the niche of AI-based marine target recognition, though it is more focused on commercial fishing than recreational angling.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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 AID