What SEA does

SEA, Ltd. (operating as S-E-A) is a US-based forensic engineering and fire investigation firm founded in 1970 and headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. The company provides multi-disciplined failure analysis and forensic investigation services spanning marine, mechanical, biomechanical, electrical, civil/structural, geotechnical, fire/explosion, materials/chemical, and digital forensics disciplines. It serves law firms and legal professionals, insurance companies, product manufacturers, government and municipal entities, and the construction industry, with primary use cases including litigation support, expert witness testimony, accident reconstruction, claims investigation, subrogation, and pre-market product safety testing. SEA supports these engagements with proprietary, capital-intensive testing infrastructure including a Vehicle Evaluation Center, test sled, driving robots and automated test drivers, 3D laser scanners, an in-house chemical laboratory, CT and SEM imaging, drone-based scene documentation, and an Imaging Sciences group producing animations and demonstrative evidence for courtroom use.

The firm operates 18 office locations across the United States staffed by 350+ licensed and registered engineers, fire investigators, and scientists, delivering services on a project-based professional services engagement model with custom quotations tied to scope and complexity. Proprietary tools include STRIDE (vehicle/product testing and analysis) and VIMF (vehicle dynamics, including moment of inertia testing), and the service portfolio has been extended into ADAS & AV evaluations, Digital Forensics, Health Sciences Solutions (medical visualization, biomechanics, toxicology), and Candle Testing & Safety. Go-to-market is direct enterprise engagement with legal and insurance verticals, supported by case-study content marketing, industry event participation (notably USLAW NETWORK), and a dedicated assignment-submission portal; revenue streams are forensic investigation services and product testing services billed per engagement.

SEA, Ltd. is a privately held firm with no identified parent company or venture capital backing, operating through a wholly-owned subsidiary, SEA Consulting Limited, P.A., for North Carolina operations. No public revenue is disclosed, and external capital signals are limited to three small funding rounds between 2009 and 2011 totaling approximately $384,000, consistent with organic, owner-funded growth rather than institutional scale-up. Leadership disclosed includes Jason Baker as President and CEO, with Jared Henthorn as Vice President of Regional Operations and dedicated regional managers across all field offices.

Name

SEA

Legal name

SEA, Ltd.

Website

https://sealimited.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1970

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

SEA, Ltd. is a US-based forensic engineering and fire investigation firm founded in 1970, employing 350+ licensed professionals across 18 offices to deliver failure analysis, expert testimony, and product safety testing to law firms, insurance companies, and product manufacturers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Columbus

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices18 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Forensic Investigation Services: Professional consulting fees for forensic engineering investigations, failure analysis, fire origin and cause determination, and expert testimony for litigation support. Billed on project basis or hourly engagement.
2. Product Testing Services: Pre-market product evaluation and quality research services including consumer product testing, vehicle testing, and material analysis. Billed per project or testing engagement.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

SEA is a multi-disciplined forensic engineering and consulting firm that investigates the cause of product failures, structural collapses, fires, explosions, transportation accidents, and maritime incidents. It delivers failure analysis, accident reconstruction, fire origin and cause determination, and expert witness testimony, supported by in-house testing facilities including a vehicle evaluation center, chemical laboratory, test sled, and 3D laser scanners. Services are sold on a project or hourly basis to law firms, insurance companies, manufacturers, government entities, and construction firms.

Product overview

S-E-A is a multi-disciplined forensic engineering and failure analysis company offering a unified platform of investigative and testing services. The core offering spans forensic engineering investigations (marine, mechanical, biomechanical, electrical, civil, materials, fire investigation), supported by specialized testing divisions including Vehicle & Product Solutions Testing (with proprietary tools like STRIDE and VIMF), Health Sciences Solutions (medical visualization, biomechanics, toxicology), and Consumer Products testing including Candle Testing & Safety. Services are delivered through a network of 18 offices across the United States with over 350 licensed professionals.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Forensic Engineering Services Multi-disciplined forensic engineering, fire investigation, and visualization services covering mechanical, electrical, civil, biomechanical, materials, geotechnical, and human factors disciplines for litigation support and failure analysis.
• Vehicle & Product Solutions Testing Comprehensive vehicle and consumer product testing services including ADAS and autonomous vehicle evaluations, test sled crash testing, center of gravity and moment of inertia measurements, driving robots, and off-road vehicle evaluations for manufacturers and legal clients.
• Forensics & Imaging Sciences Forensic investigation services across construction, consumer products, digital forensics, electrical, fire/explosion, fire protection, geotechnical, mechanical, and imaging sciences disciplines, including 3D animations, medical illustrations, and demonstrative evidence for legal proceedings.
• Health Sciences Solutions Laboratory-based health sciences services including medical visualization, biomechanics and human use/mobility studies, and toxicology and forensic pharmacology for legal and insurance proceedings.
• Candle Testing & Safety Specialized testing and safety evaluation services for candles and fragrance products to assess fire performance, container integrity, and consumer safety for manufacturers.
• Digital Forensics Forensic collection and analysis of digital evidence from diverse storage systems, cloud-based sources, and embedded systems, including forensic imaging and data recovery for litigation support.

Quantifiable outcome

• Comprehensive independent analysis supporting litigation

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature9 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• OSHENcoreTechnology or Integration · 9 April 2026SEA, part of Cohort plc Group, is providing hydrophones to marine autonomy specialist OSHEN for integration into its C-STARS uncrewed surface system as part of a ZeroUSV-led project exploring autonomous underwater acoustic sensing networks. The project is supported by UK Defence Innovation (DASA) and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and will deploy C-STARS micro-drones from ZeroUSV's Oceanus12 vessel to create a distributed acoustic monitoring network.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Donan Engineering: Donan is a forensic engineering firm known for fire and explosion origin/cause investigation and structural failure analysis serving the insurance industry, overlapping significantly with SEA's fire investigation and civil/structural practices.
• Exponent: Exponent is the largest publicly traded multi-disciplinary forensic engineering and scientific consulting firm, providing failure analysis, accident reconstruction, biomechanics, and expert testimony to law firms, insurers, manufacturers, and government — directly overlapping SEA's full-service forensic engineering platform.
• J.S. Held: J.S. Held is a privately held multidisciplinary consulting firm with a large forensic engineering practice covering failure analysis, fire investigation, vehicle accident reconstruction, and expert witness services for legal and insurance clients, directly comparable to SEA's core offering.
• Haag Engineering: Haag Engineering is a forensic engineering firm specializing in damage assessment, failure analysis, and expert testimony for construction, insurance, and legal clients, comparable to SEA's construction defect and structural failure work.
• EFI Global (Engineering & Fire Investigations): EFI Global is a forensic engineering and fire investigation firm specializing in origin-and-cause investigations, failure analysis, and expert services for insurance and legal clients, closely aligned with SEA's Maritime/Admiralty, Fire/Explosion, and Product Solutions practices.
• Engineering Design & Testing (EDT): EDT provides forensic engineering, accident reconstruction, biomechanics, and product failure analysis with licensed expert witnesses, mirroring SEA's combination of vehicle testing, biomechanics, and litigation support.
• Rimkus Consulting Group: Rimkus is a global forensic engineering, failure analysis, and built-environment consulting firm with multi-discipline expertise in mechanical, electrical, structural, fire, and vehicle accident reconstruction — a near-direct competitor to SEA's service portfolio and vertical mix.

Broad incumbents

• Stantec: Stantec is a large global design and engineering consultancy with environmental, geotechnical, and forensic-adjacent practices serving legal/insurance clients, representing a broader incumbent that participates in portions of SEA's addressable market.
• GHD Group: GHD is a large global engineering, environmental, and advisory consultancy with forensics-adjacent failure analysis and expert testimony services for insurance and legal clients, providing broader-incumbent comparability to SEA's multi-discipline practice.
• Origin and Cause (now part of Alpine Intel): Alpine Intel is a broader professional services platform that acquired multiple forensic and investigation firms (including Donan), representing a scaled strategic acquirer in SEA's market space and a comparable professional-services-forensic operating model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SEA_Engineering
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/s-e-a

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors

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 SEA