Bedrock Ocean Secures $25M to Revolutionize Seafloor Mapping with Autonomous Robots

Bedrock Ocean, a pioneering startup in autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) technology, has secured $25 million in a Series A-2 funding round to advance its seafloor mapping capabilities. The round was led by Primary and Northzone, with participation from Autopilot, Costanoa Ventures, Harmony Partners, Katapult, and Mana Ventures. This investment will fuel Bedrock Ocean’s mission to create detailed maps of the ocean floor using advanced robotics, addressing a significant gap in our understanding of the marine environment.

Unlike traditional methods that rely on large, fuel-intensive ships emitting sonar pulses, Bedrock Ocean utilizes AUVs equipped with sonar and magnetic sensors. These AUVs can operate for up to 12 hours on lithium-ion batteries, autonomously mapping the ocean floor. This approach not only reduces costs but also minimizes the disruption to marine life.

Brandon Mah, COO of Bedrock Ocean, emphasized the potential to replace traditional mapping ships with their AUV technology. “The pot at the end of the rainbow that everybody has been chasing for 20 years has been, can we replace traditional ships?” he told TechCrunch. According to Bedrock, two AUVs can cover the same ground as one traditional mapping ship, and a single 40-foot ship can carry 10 to 12 AUVs.

Bedrock Ocean designs and builds its AUVs in-house, with each unit costing less than $1 million. The company has also developed proprietary software for AUV operation and data processing. The AUVs perform onboard data processing and transmit data via Wi-Fi to a ship equipped with a Starlink antenna for cloud transmission, allowing for near real-time data monitoring.

These AUVs operate at a height of five to ten meters above the seafloor, using less powerful sonar than ship-based methods. Bedrock Ocean asserts that this approach reduces harm to marine mammals due to the higher sonar frequency, lower power usage, and proximity to the seafloor.

While ship-based surveys can offer sub-meter accuracy, Bedrock Ocean’s AUVs provide accuracy within one to two meters. This is due to their reliance on inertial navigation underwater, where GPS signals are unavailable. However, Mah argues that this level of accuracy is sufficient for many seafloor operations, particularly when speed and data accessibility are critical.

Bedrock Ocean has been conducting paid survey work for offshore wind, oil and gas, and environmental assessments. The U.S. Navy has also expressed interest in their technology, impressed by the speed and data accessibility of Bedrock’s AUVs.