Our oceans have been forgotten

The numbers show how critical oceans are for planetary health. Covering 70% of the planet, oceans create 50% of our oxygen, whilst absorbing 25% of CO2 and 90% of the world’s heat. 

And they are also directly vital for human health, providing food for 3 billion people. 

But our oceans are facing a growing list of challenges outside of climate change-driven effects. This is a true tragedy of the commons. These problems range from the scourge of plastic pollution, to overfishing, habitat destruction, acidification and the accelerating loss of biodiversity.

There are still too few investment dollars and actions focused on innovations that will support our oceans. While hard to accurately measure, best estimates believe that the oceans receive less than 1% of total climate finance available, according to the Blue Marine Foundation. Of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ‘Life Under Water’ is among the least funded. 

Progress is afoot. In March 2023, the UN announced the historic High Seas Treaty, placing 30% of the world’s oceans under protection to ‘safeguard and recuperate marine nature’. Yet this leaves a huge job to be done, in particular failing to account for protecting low-lying coastal communities. 

There are ample opportunities to accelerate technology development to enhance the ‘sustainable Blue Economy’. The concept of the sustainable Blue Economy is based on creating economic opportunities and climate change solutions while preserving the ocean's ecological integrity, without compromising the ability of future generations to use and benefit from the ocean's resources.

We are building a blueprint for mitigation and adaptation through technology-led resilience and searching for transformational technologies that can not only protect coastal and island communities but create new growth, jobs and prosperity.

The Bahamas, whilst still having significant climate-related challenges, has the resources and will to create a natural testing lab for technologies that can deliver these much needed solutions.

The Blue Action Accelerator

To answer these needs and opportunities, we have launched Blue Action Accelerator: a pre-seed and seed impact investment program for technology startups working at the ‘climate x ocean’ nexus. Our offer is deliberately designed to dramatically increase the odds of success for companies at the earliest of stages. 

We provide a $150,000 investment alongside a six-month program of bespoke support from expert operators and access to a global network of investors, corporate partners,technologists, as well as public and private markets. And most distinctively, we provide a real world opportunity to come and test technologies and systems so that they might be more rapidly proven, structured, financed, and applied at meaningful scales.  

We're combining two sets of expertise. On the venture building side: Founders Factory has experience building over 300 companies globally, including a number in the climate and sustainability space. These include Notpla, recent winners of the £1m Earthshot Prize, Solivus, a leading disruptor in the solar energy sector, and Again, building key infrastructure for reusable packaging.

Blue Action Lab, meanwhile, brings years of experience in the ocean and coastal health space to add scientific rigour and local strategic relationships to Blue Action Accelerator's investments. Since 2020, Blue Action Lab has built a sophisticated testing ground for innovators in the ocean space in Grand Bahama.

This strategic relationship with the Grand Bahama Port Authority, and the world-class industrial maritime infrastructure within the free trade zone of Freeport, brings significant advantage to founders working in this space. We know how challenging it is for startups to obtain licences, navigate regulatory requirements, and win procurement contracts. Our program will focus on helping portfolio companies demonstrate the validity of their solutions in the natural environment and with governments.

We’ve been doing this already with Earthshot Prize winners, Coral Vita (pictured). Based in Freeport in Grand Bahama, they’re taking micro fragments of coral reefs, regrowing them through accelerated evolution, and replanting them in surrounding reefs.

In addition to our hubs in The Bahamas, we are building a global network of public-private partnerships to facilitate rapid real-world testing for our portfolio, from Miami-Dade County to San Diego and the Port of Los Angeles, the Sea of Cortez to Monaco and beyond. 

If we’re going to turn the corner on ocean and coastal health, there’s a huge demand for infrastructure like ours that will help accelerate innovative solutions and apply them quickly and at meaningful scale. If the solution to climate change really does lie in our oceans, there is no more time for delay.