Blue Water Autonomy, Boston, a technology company focused on building uncrewed vessels for the U.S. Navy, announced Tuesday it has raised $50 million in Series A funding. The round was led by GV, Mountainview, Calif., with participation from existing investors Eclipse, Palo Alto, Calif.; Riot, Los Angeles, and Impatient Ventures, Los Angeles.
The latest investment brings Blue Water Autonomy’s total funding to $64 million, following a $14 million seed round announced in April 2025. Dave Munichiello, GV managing partner, will join the company’s board of directors as part of the deal.
Blue Water Autonomy plans to use the funds to build and deploy its first full-scale, long-range autonomous ship in 2026. The ship will be in the 100' to 150' range and designed to travel thousands of miles at a time, Tectonic reports. Other details on the vessel's specifications and capabilities have not been revealed.
Since its seed round, the company has quadrupled its team, conducted successful on-water engineering tests, and begun sourcing materials from over 50 suppliers, it said in a press release.
"There is an urgent need for autonomous ships designed specifically for maritime security and logistics. This funding gives our team the resources to build long-range autonomous ships from the keel up that will operate on the open ocean for months at a time," Blue Water Autonomy CEO Rylan Hamilton said in a statement. "Blue Water Autonomy is laser-focused on perfecting a single platform class. This intentional strategy ensures unmatched quality, speed to market, and reliability from day one."
The announcement comes as the Navy works to build up a fleet of autonomous uncrewed surface vessles and amid growing concerns over the U.S. shipbuilding gap with China, which currently has over 200 times more shipbuilding capacity. In response, the Pentagon has accelerated its push for autonomous vessels, backed by $2.1 billion in new Congressional funding for medium-sized unmanned surface vessels.
While initially focused on defense, Blue Water Autonomy said it sees future applications in commercial maritime sectors. The company’s team includes Navy veterans and shipbuilders with experience delivering more than 30 ships to the U.S. Navy, including autonomous platforms such as DARPA’s No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS).
"I've had the privilege of working with Rylan for nearly two decades, from our time at Kiva Systems through Shopify's acquisition of his robotics company," Munichiello said in a statement. "As a former military officer myself, I've seen how great leaders are forged through experience, and Rylan exemplifies that — pairing vision with disciplined execution. At Blue Water, he's assembled a world-class team to autonomize maritime defense, addressing a mission as urgent as it is consequential."
