Wellington startup Starboard Maritime Intelligence, which uses AI to find vessels that switch off their tracking at sea, raised a NZ$23 million (A$20.7 million) Series A in September 2025 to expand into North America, Europe and the Indo-Pacific, Startup Daily reported.
Most large ships broadcast their position through automatic identification systems. Vessels involved in illegal fishing, smuggling or sanctions evasion often turn those signals off and disappear from public tracking, becoming what the industry calls dark vessels. Illegal fishing alone is estimated to cost the world up to US$50 billion a year, and the same blind spots leave undersea cables and maritime borders exposed.
How it works
Starboard’s platform analyses more than 1 billion maritime data points a day, combining ship tracking data with satellite imagery, radar, oceanographic data and autonomous sensors, according to Startup Daily. It flags suspicious patterns, such as two vessels meeting far from port in a way that suggests catch or cargo is being transferred, and sends alerts in real time.
The company says it is used by governments, defence agencies and commercial operators in more than 30 countries, and helps safeguard more than 840,000km of subsea cable infrastructure.
The customers
Starboard’s customers are largely government and defence agencies. The company’s chair has said the US Navy uses the platform to monitor North Korea sanctions. New Zealand’s Prime Minister opened Starboard’s Wellington headquarters.
The raise
Founded in 2019, Starboard is led by CEO Trent Fulcher. The Series A was co-led by Altered Capital, the company’s first backer, with new investors OIF Ventures and King River Capital, and support from Co:Act Capital, Icehouse Ventures and the Whakatupu Aotearoa Foundation. It followed a seed round in April 2024.
Former Palantir executive Jonty Kelt of King River Capital and Go1 co-founder Vu Tran of OIF Ventures joined the board. Fulcher said the platform gives customers “the intelligence edge needed to secure maritime borders, assets, and trade”, Startup Daily reported. The money is also going towards classified and commercial maritime capabilities and product development.
Jack’s take
While most of the market builds another chatbot, Starboard built AI for the actual ocean. For two island nations that depend on sea lanes and undersea cables, I think that is about as on brand as a defence startup gets. The Palantir connection on the board tells me where the company wants to sit.