The verified answer
As of Sep 2026, DEPLOY verifies Blue Water Autonomy: 1 model, $114.0M raised. 3 sources back the record.
CategoryMaritime
Overview
Early-stage US autonomous-ship startup (Boston/Cambridge MA; founded 2024; founders ex-Navy/Amazon Robotics/Irobot) building a full-size long-range autonomous ship (~190ft Liberty Class); pre-deploy, $64M raised.
Verified record
- Verified deployments
- None on file
- Active incidents
- None on file
Valuation of record
DEPLOY VERIFIEDPriced roundSeries A post-money
Key facts
Ambition
Status
Founders' background
Funding raisedsee investors →
Founders
Financial stage
Data & sources
Press releases
1
Web sources
2
3 sources backing this record.View all →
Models (1)
View all models →Partnerships
Every company Blue Water Autonomy has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most-frequent partners
- 1Damen Shipyards1× joint
Most recent
- Damen x Blue Water Autonomy US Navy2026-06-15with Damen Shipyardsoperating
Blue Water Autonomy on the deployment map
View the global mapBlue Water Autonomy has no verified deployments on the DEPLOY registry yet. Explore the deployment map by place and type.
No verified deployments for Blue Water Autonomy on the DEPLOY record yet. Track Blue Water Autonomy to know the moment the first one is verified.
Relationships
Current leadership (3)
- Rylan Hamilton Co-founder and CEOsince 2024-01-01secondary-verified
- Austin Gray Co-foundersince 2024-01-01secondary-verified
- Scott N. Miller Co-foundersince 2024-01-01secondary-verified
Founders (3)
- Rylan Hamiltoncofounderfounded 2024-01-01
previously at 6 River Systems
- Austin Graycofounderfounded 2024-01-01
- Scott N. Millercofounderfounded 2024-01-01
Safety record
No incidents on record for Blue Water Autonomy.
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Full safety record: incidents, sourcing, and exposure data →
Recent coverage
Blue Water Autonomy in third-party press
Peers
34 peers across 1 segment. Every Blue Water Autonomy competitor derived from shared form-factor and application-domain edges.
marine(34)
29 companies in this segment · highly_concentrated (HHI 5727.802012906746) · leader Anduril Industries at 7141%
- Anduril Industriesdirect competitor(inferred)strong
- Bedrock Oceandirect competitor(inferred)strong
- Blue Roboticsdirect competitor(inferred)strong
- Deep Trekkerdirect competitor(inferred)strong
- ECA Groupdirect competitor(inferred)strong
- Eelumedirect competitor(inferred)strong
Financial state
- Total funding
- $114.0M
- Reporting basis
- private_reported
- Lifecycle stage
- early
- Counterparty risk class
- moderate
Each numeric field carries its own basis marker. Aggregators report a number; this surface preserves the source class so verification depth travels with the value.
Partnerships
1 total · 1 operating
Every company Blue Water Autonomy has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most recent
- Damen x Blue Water Autonomy US Navy2026-06-15with Damen Shipyardsoperating
Most-frequent partners
- 1Damen Shipyards1× joint
All 1 partnerships
open in the atlas →- Damen x Blue Water Autonomy US NavywithDamen Shipyardstechnology2026-06-15operating
Funding rounds (3)
Blue Water Autonomy’s 3 disclosed rounds, $114M in total, oldest to newest.
- Series A2025-11-01
$50M(reported) · $300M post
- Series A2025-09-01
$50M · $300M post
Investors: GV (Google Ventures) (lead), Eclipse Ventures, Riot Ventures, Impatient Ventures
- Seed2025-04-01
$14M · $56M post
Investors: Eclipse Ventures, Riot Ventures, Impatient Ventures
Timeline
Every recorded move in Blue Water Autonomy’s history, most recent first: funding rounds, partnerships, acquisitions, supply-chain starts, key hires, and press.
PartnershipDamen x Blue Water Autonomy US Navy
2026-06-15Damen and Blue Water Autonomy announced a license agreement to produce autonomous ships for the U.S. Navy, combining Damens Stan Patrol vessel design with Blue Waters autonomous vessel technology.
Funding roundSeries A funding round
2025-11-01Series A raising $50000000
Funding roundSeries A funding round
2025-09-01Series A raising $50000000
Funding roundSeed funding round
2025-04-01Seed raising $14000000
Key hireRylan Hamilton joins as Co-founder and CEO
2024-01-01Rylan Hamilton appointed Co-founder and CEO (current)
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Verified media addedVerifiedJun 5, 2026
Blue Water Liberty-class autonomous ship unveiling
- Record createdJun 3, 2026
Added to the verified registry
Sources (3)
- https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blue-water-autonomy-announces-50-million-series-a-led-by-gv-to-strengthen-us-maritime-power-with-autonomous-unmanned-ships-302538277.html
- https://breakingdefense.com/2025/09/maritime-tech-startup-blue-water-autonomy-signs-deal-with-conrad-shipyard-for-usv-production/
- https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/11/business/blue-water-autonomy-captainless-ships/
Common questions
What is Blue Water Autonomy?
What does Blue Water Autonomy make?
Is Blue Water Autonomy publicly traded?
Who competes with Blue Water Autonomy?
Who is the CEO of Blue Water Autonomy?
How can I invest in Blue Water Autonomy?
Where is Blue Water Autonomy headquartered?
How much funding has Blue Water Autonomy raised?
Who owns Blue Water Autonomy?
Where does Blue Water Autonomy operate robots?
Is Blue Water Autonomy a top robotics company?
Is Blue Water Autonomy safe?
Methodology: Verified · 3 sources (1 primary) · last reviewed 2026-08-21
Verification posture
Verified
High confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-08-21
Sources by quality tier
- 2
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
- 1
- primary-company-ir
- Company IR disclosure
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for Blue Water Autonomy.Peer companies
- Saildrone4 models
- Saronic Technologies4 models
- BAE Systems3 models
- Kongsberg Maritime3 models
- Rekise Marine3 models
- L3Harris2 models
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning Blue Water Autonomy from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
Blue Water Autonomy Selected for Naval Autonomous Survey Work
Blue Water Autonomy, a Boston-based technology and shipbuilding company, has been selected for a multiple-award contract with the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) to provide…
Blue Water Autonomy Selected for Naval Autonomous Survey Work
Blue Water Autonomy, a Boston-based technology and shipbuilding company, has been selected for a multiple-award contract with the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) to provide…
U.S. Navy picks Blue Water Autonomy to use autonomous vessels for deep ocean surveys
Blue Water Autonomy creates unmanned ships that can operate autonomously on the open ocean for months a time. The post U.S. Navy picks Blue Water Autonomy to use autonomous…
Blue Water Autonomy unveils Liberty-class USV for the U.S. Navy
Blue Water Autonomy unveiled its first vessel, the Liberty-class USV, at WEST 2026 in San Diego. Autonomous vessel design for US Navy operations.
Blue Water Autonomy raises $50M Series A
Blue Water Autonomy, defense-tech startup founded 2024 by Rylan Hamilton (CEO), Austin Gray, and Scott N. Miller, raises $50M Series A.
Blue Water Autonomy partners for scalable autonomous ship production
Blue Water Autonomy announces strategic partnerships aimed at scaling production of autonomous vessels for US Navy.
Blue Water Autonomy USV startup nets $14M funding boost
Blue Water Autonomy announces $14M in new funding to develop uncrewed military vessel for US Navy. Boston MA based.
Blue Water Autonomy Emerges From Stealth with $14M Seed
Blue Water Autonomy emerges from stealth, announces $14M seed funding for autonomous ships for US Navy. Founded 2024 by Navy veterans.
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /companies/blue-water-autonomy.md
- RSS feed: /companies/blue-water-autonomy/feed.xml
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/companies/f251f52f-405c-40cc-91e2-16649370d204
- Revision history: /companies/blue-water-autonomy/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Peer companies
- Saildrone4 models
- Saronic Technologies4 models
- BAE Systems3 models
- Kongsberg Maritime3 models
- Rekise Marine3 models
- L3Harris2 models
Video
Blue Water Autonomy unveiled its first vessel, the Liberty-class, during WEST 2026 in San Diego. The autonomous vessel design draws on successful Axe Bow hull
Today, we're proud to announce our first vessel: the Liberty Class, a 190-foot unmanned surface vessel (USV). In partnership with DAMEN, we’re delivering the n
Rylan Hamilton spent years putting over a million robots into Amazon warehouses. Now, he’s automating the ocean. As the CEO and co-founder of Blue Water Autono
Episode 400 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Rylan Hamilton, CEO & Co-Founder of Blue Water Autonomy. Episode 400! It’s another milestone episode. On Novem
Blue Water Autonomy is building autonomous ships for the U.S. Navy and commercial customers. Their team has launched 100+ hardware products, built some of Amer
Rylan Hamilton, CEO of Blue Water Autonomy, and Marc van Heyningen, COO of Damen Shipyards Group, sit down during the Surface Navy Association's 38th National S
One of the easiest mistakes in engineering is believing that better software eliminates the need for physical testing. But it doesn't. Since the start of Blue W
Blue Water Autonomy, a Boston-based startup, has emerged from stealth with plans to revolutionize naval operations by developing autonomous, captainless ships.
The Liberty Class, a 190-foot unmanned surface vessel (USV). The Liberty Class autonomous ship is designed for the US Navy, funded by private capital, and built
Hiring: Marketing Manager at Blue Water Autonomy Blue Water is building some of the biggest autonomous ships in the world, and now they’re looking for a market
Heat Index
Category contender77/100
A composite of competitive footprint, funding, press velocity, active partnerships, and supply-chain edges. Different from the Intelligence score below (which is per-form-factor productization). Non-robotics companies cap at 25.
Reality vs attention
Blue Water Autonomy draws attention at the 74th percentile but verifies reality at the insufficient-data level among maritime_surface robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Well-capitalized with $114M raised and recent funding activity.
Signal flags
Dimension breakdown
Verified signal
Attention (reach, not merit)
DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.
DEPLOY Indices — verified vs claimed
Last computed: Sep 2, 2026