Sea Forward

Name

Sea Forward

Legal name

Sea Forward Ocean Health Fund

Website

https://seaforwardfund.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Ocean Impact Philanthropy

NAICS

Aquaculture (1125)

akta.pro primary industry

Marine & Freshwater Conservation (BPAGAGAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Offshore & Open-Ocean Aquaculture (AFAEAAAH), Oceans, Coastal & Marine Resource Management (BPADALAI)

Keywords

• Ocean impact investing
• Donor-advised fund
• Blue economy philanthropy
• Marine conservation funding
• Impact philanthropy platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Santa Barbara

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Charitable Contributions: Sea Forward operates as a Donor-Advised Fund at ImpactAssets, receiving tax-deductible charitable contributions from individual donors, DAF holders, and foundations. Contributions are pooled and deployed across a globally diversified portfolio of ocean impact funds.
2. Investment Returns: Capital deployed into ocean impact funds generates financial returns that are recycled back into the fund for redeployment, returned to donors' accounts, or granted to nonprofits. This creates a self-renewing endowment model (Everblue Model) where 95% is deployed in investments and 5% in grants.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Sea Forward operates the Sea Forward Ocean Health Fund, a multi-donor advised fund administered through ImpactAssets (a 501(c)(3)) that pools philanthropic capital from individual donors, DAF holders, and foundations into a globally diversified portfolio of ocean impact funds. The fund deploys 95% of capital into ocean impact investments and 5% into strategic grants across six themes: sustainable aquaculture, science-based monitoring tools, circular economy, biodiversity, climate, and regenerative nature-based solutions, using the Everblue Model — a self-renewing cycle of pooling, channeling, upwelling, and rippling.

Product overview

Sea Forward is a nonprofit ocean health fund that operates as a multi-donor advised fund at ImpactAssets. The core offering is the Sea Forward Ocean Health Fund, which pools charitable capital from donors, DAF holders, and foundations into globally diversified ocean impact funds using the Everblue Model — a self-renewing capital approach that pools, channels, upwells, and ripples returns back into ocean-positive investments. The fund deploys across six interconnected ocean themes: sustainable aquaculture, science-based monitoring tools, circular economy, biodiversity, climate, and regenerative nature-based solutions. Supporting offerings include strategic grantmaking for field-building, the quarterly Current newsletter, annual Women in Ocean Impact webinar series, Stories of Hope e-book, and Annual Insights Report. Capital can be contributed via CataCap (for individual investors starting at $250) or directly through ImpactAssets (for foundations and existing DAF holders).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Everblue Model: A self-renewing endowment model that pools donor capital across diversified ocean impact funds, reinvests returns, and generates ripple effects through the field.
• The Current
• Women in Ocean Impact

Products and services

• Sea Forward Ocean Health Fund A multi-donor advised fund at ImpactAssets that pools philanthropic capital from individual donors, DAF holders, and foundations into a globally diversified portfolio of ocean impact funds, deploying 95% in investments and 5% in grants across six ocean themes: sustainable aquaculture, science-based monitoring tools, circular economy, biodiversity, climate, and regenerative nature-based solutions.

Quantifiable outcome

• 200+ portfolio companies across 9+ funds
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• California Ocean Summit 2026coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 December 2026Organized by Sea Forward in collaboration with Office of Assemblymember Gregg Hart, UC Santa Barbara, and Cerulean Ventures. The Summit will unite leaders in marine science, environmental policy, philanthropy, impact investing, education, and the arts.
• 1000 Ocean Startups Annual Gathering 2026majorGTM or Marketing Partner · 8 September 2026Sea Forward will attend the 1000 Ocean Startups Annual Gathering in Singapore, convening leading ocean investors, founders, accelerators, philanthropies, and ecosystem builders working to scale the blue economy in support of the coalition's goal to launch and scale 1,000 ocean startups by 2030.
• ImpactAssetscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSea Forward's fiscal sponsor and platform partner. ImpactAssets provides the Donor-Advised Fund infrastructure that powers the Everblue Model and makes collective ocean investing possible. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit impact investing platform managing over $3 billion in assets.
• 1000 Ocean Startups CoalitioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSea Forward uses the 1000 Ocean Startups Coalition's Ocean Impact Navigator as their primary KPI framework for publishing findings annually in their Insights Report. Sea Forward will attend the 2026 Annual Gathering in Singapore.
• ToniiccoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerA global community of impact investors advancing ocean health through coordinated capital deployment. Sea Forward is an active participant in the Toniic Ocean Working Group alongside members worldwide.
• DAF CommonsmajorGTM or Marketing PartnerA collaborative DAF platform and strategic partner. DAF Commons helps align donor-advised fund capital with high-impact opportunities, including ocean-focused investments through Sea Forward. A peer community of DAF holders sharing knowledge to mobilize the ~$330 billion sitting in DAFs.
• 1% for the PlanetmajorGTM or Marketing PartnerSea Forward is a certified 1% for the Planet Environmental Partner, committing to science-grounded environmental impact and accountability as a core part of how they operate.
• CataCapcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorA mission-driven investment and advisory platform pooling capital for impact. Sea Forward partners with CataCap to make impact investing accessible starting at just $250, connect with aligned investors, and accelerate ventures advancing a regenerative blue economy.
• Heading for ChangemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-investment partner with Sea Forward in the Circulate Capital Ocean Fund LAC, dedicated to fighting plastic pollution and advancing the circular economy in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Oceankind: Oceankind is an ocean-focused philanthropic partnership and pooled-fund vehicle that aggregates donor capital into marine conservation grants and impact investments, closely mirroring Sea Forward's multi-donor DAF aggregator model targeting the same donor base.
• Oceans 5: Oceans 5 is a philanthropic funder collective focused on ocean conservation grantmaking across fisheries, marine protected areas, and illegal fishing, operating with a similar pooled-donor, catalytic-grant structure aimed at scaling ocean impact.

Others

• Toniic: Toniic is a global impact-investor network whose Ocean Working Group Sea Forward participates in, providing donor pipeline, peer learning, and co-investment opportunities relevant to Sea Forward's mission-aligned fundraising.
• ImpactAssets: ImpactAssets is Sea Forward's fiscal sponsor and DAF infrastructure partner; it is an adjacent ecosystem player that hosts multiple mission-aligned DAFs and provides the platform on which Sea Forward depends.
• CataCap: CataCap is the impact-investing platform Sea Forward uses to onboard small-dollar individual donors at $250 minimum, functioning as a critical distribution and infrastructure layer for Sea Forward's GTM.
• Hatch Blue: Hatch Blue is the aquaculture-focused fund-of-funds and accelerator that Sea Forward invests in via the Hatch Blue Revolution Fund, making it both a downstream portfolio asset and an ecosystem peer in blue-economy investing.

Broad incumbents

• Conservation International: Conservation International runs the Ventures program and co-develops the Women in Ocean Food Innovation Studio with Sea Forward; it is a major ocean conservation peer with global grantmaking capacity.
• The Nature Conservancy: The Nature Conservancy is a large environmental nonprofit and co-developer of the Hatch Blue Revolution Fund in Sea Forward's portfolio, making it both a peer ocean funder and a downstream portfolio partner.
• Bloomberg Philanthropies: Bloomberg Philanthropies is a major philanthropic funder with large ocean protection programs (e.g., Vibrant Oceans, Reef Resilience) and significantly more capital, representing the upper bound of what pooled ocean philanthropy can scale to.

Emerging players

• Blue Nature Alliance: Blue Nature Alliance is a multi-funder ocean conservation partnership focused on marine protected areas, operating as a pooled ocean-philanthropy vehicle targeting similar donor and outcome themes as Sea Forward.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/91316357

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

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 Forward