Britain’s coastline, ports, and underwater infrastructure are becoming harder to protect — and far more important to defend. From subsea cables carrying data and power to strategic sea lanes and offshore assets, the need for constant maritime surveillance has never been greater.
This is the gap Online Oceans, the UK defence and maritime security company, wants to close. It just raised £4 million in a funding round led by Seraphim Space, with participation from Peter Rive, Frank Thieser, Florian Seibel and Koro Capital.
Founded in early 2025 by George Morton and Alistair Douglas, the company has moved quickly from prototype development to production ramp-up in just over a year. At the centre of the company’s offering is Scout, a compact solar-powered autonomous surface vessel built for long-endurance deployment.
That vessel is paired with Tether, the company’s cloud-based command platform. Through Tether, operators can monitor missions, manage fleets and access real-time intelligence from multiple vessels simultaneously. Instead of occasional patrols or isolated deployments, governments and commercial users can maintain continuous oversight across wide maritime zones.
Online Oceans’ systems are designed for missions including anti-submarine operations, protection of subsea cables and pipelines, border surveillance, counter-drug smuggling and wider maritime domain awareness. The company is also in active discussions around Gulf deployments, where its vessels could support early warning of incoming aerial threats using acoustic and optical sensing.
What distinguishes the startp from existing autonomous vessel companies, such as Seasats, is its specific bet on solar power and dense-fleet economics. Unlike rivals, Online Oceans is designing around that constraint from the start, rather than building a premium product and hoping costs come down.
Other potential applications include passive acoustic monitoring to detect submarines or uncrewed underwater vehicles, as well as intelligence gathering through visual feeds, detection of AIS spoofing, and broader surface reconnaissance.
The business has already secured initial customers across defence, maritime awareness and ocean data markets. It has begun first data sales and sold out the first few months of production ahead of commercial deliveries scheduled for April 2026.
While the company is building from Europe, where maritime security needs are especially pressing, its ambitions stretch far beyond the region. Online Oceans aims to become a global leader in persistent maritime infrastructure, replacing expensive, intermittent patrol models with always-on fleets that continuously monitor the seas.
