Venture capital maritime tech incubators merge

Flagship Founders is backed by German shipowners F Laeisz, Auerbach Schifffhart and Philipp Ahrenkiel and has helped develop a stable of digital start-ups including zero44, Sealenic, Arinto and Kaiko Systems.

Studio 30 50 was launched last year through investment from Danish shipowner Hafnia and Microsoft with other collaborators including DNV, IMC Ventures and Wilhelmsen. Based in Singapore, Studio 30 50 also counts the city-state’s Maritime and Port Authority as a key partner.

The companies said the aim of this collaboration is to build the next generation of maritime technology companies in Europe and southeast Asia.

While Studio 30 50 has operated with a programme-based approach in which start-ups are founded in batches, Flagship Founders has had a more individual strategy for founding start-ups to date.

The partners said the aim is to combine both methods in the future to get the best of both worlds.

Joint networks and expertise for global impact
As part of combining the two studios’ venture building activities, Studio 30 50 director Shanker Pillai will join the Flagship Founders management team and lead the company together with Flagship’s co-founders Fabian Feldhaus and Malte Cherdron.

“The shipping industry continues to have a great need for innovation,’ said Mr Feldhaus. “It has always been our ambition to decisively drive digitalisation in our industry and deliver real value. We are already doing this in Europe, and southeast Asia is the next logical step.” 

Mr Pillai commented, “Studio 30 50 has always followed an agile venture-building methodology which enabled us to launch ventures at scale in multiple geographies. With the expertise of Flagship Founders and its strong venture-building track record, the new partnership will focus on building the best maritime-tech ventures in our industry by giving them access to our combined networks, funding opportunities and validation partners in key maritime geographies.”