An artist's impression of Saronic Technologies' planned Port Alpha shipyard that will be focused on building autonomous vessels. (Saronic Technologies)
Saronic Technologies has announced plans to construct an advanced shipyard to build unmanned vessels following a successful Series C funding round. Series C funding is typically focused on scaling a company and is commonly the last round of startup equity funding.
The USD600 million funding will support the development of the Port Alpha shipyard, which is intended to deliver “new classes of unmanned ships at the speed and scale needed to protect and defend the maritime domain”, according to a Saronic statement on 18 February. It will also enable the expansion of Saronic's autonomous surface vessel (ASV) fleet into medium and large classes for defence missions, the statement said.
The project will expand Saronic's workforce, machinery, facilities, and manufacturing capabilities to support its existing family of ASVs and develop larger vessels, a Saronic spokesperson told Janes on 24 March. Saronic is actively looking for a US location for the shipyard, with plans calling for it to be operational within five years, the spokesperson said.
The move will help address US shipbuilding capacity shortfalls as well as investing in the infrastructure needed to supply the range and volume of autonomous ships required by the US Navy's planned hybrid fleet, according to Saronic.
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