Gothenburg-based Cetasol, a maritime tech startup tackling the overlooked majority of the global fleet, has raised €2.3M in fresh seed funding.
The round was co-led by BackingMinds and Shift4Good, with continued support from existing investor Sarsia.
Scaling AI for the 90% of ships left behind
While most maritime innovation has targeted electrification and large cargo ships, nearly 90% of the world’s vessels are small to mid-sized—and often lack access to affordable optimisation tools. Shipping overall contributes about 3% of global CO₂ emissions, making this segment a critical, yet untapped, opportunity for impact.
Cetasol’s flagship platform, iHelm, combines edge computing, digital twins, and AI-driven analytics to give captains and fleet managers real-time decision support. The system enables 10–25% fuel savings, cuts operating costs, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions—all while laying the groundwork for predictive maintenance.
“Cetasol is tackling one of the maritime industry’s biggest blind spots,” said Niclas Wijkström, CFO & Investment Director at BackingMinds. “By combining edge computing with AI-driven analytics, it addresses critical challenges such as fuel optimisation, real-time decision support, and emissions tracking.”
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Why investors are backing it
For Shift4Good, which manages €220M in impact-focused transport investments, the appeal is both commercial and environmental.
“Cetasol has developed a solution that delivers measurable impact and ROI from day one,” said Matthieu de Chanville, Managing Partner at Shift4Good. “It’s easy to deploy, relevant across fleets, and paves the way for predictive maintenance—a domain we already know well from our investments in road mobility.”
Fuel for growth
The new funding follows a €2M seed round in 2024. With the added capital, Cetasol will:
- Scale global roll-out of iHelm across multiple vessel types and geographies
- Expand commercial operations to serve more fleet operators
- Invest in product development to adapt its intelligent platform to evolving maritime needs
“This investment confirms that our approach to AI-driven decision support and maritime sustainability is both needed and trusted,” said Ethan Faghani, CEO & Founder of Cetasol. “With this support, we are scaling faster and wider—delivering intelligent solutions to maritime operations globally.”
Inside iHelm
- Digital twin + AI: Creates a live model of each vessel to generate real-time recommendations for captains.
- Fuel & emissions tracking: Provides granular data to optimise voyages and cut CO₂.
- Fleet dashboards: Cloud-based analytics let fleet managers monitor both real-time and historical performance.
- Predictive maintenance: Anticipates failures before they occur, improving uptime and compliance.
By focusing on the underserved fleet segment, Cetasol positions itself as a catalyst for rapid decarbonisation in shipping—bringing AI intelligence to the vessels that move quietly but make up most of the global seas.
