DEPLOYDatabase

Company

Saildrone

marinesaildrone.com

Saildrone builds wind and solar-powered autonomous unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) that collect ocean data at scale for months at a time without human…

Track Saildrone
Founded
2012
HQ
Alameda, California, USA
Status
private ($100M Series C + $60M EIFO + $50M Lockheed)

The verified answer

As of Sep 2026, DEPLOY verifies Saildrone: 4 models, 9 deployments across 6 regions, $284.0M raised. 6 sources back the record.

CategoryMaritime

Funding

$284.0M

Models

4

Deployments

9

Patents

3

Overview

Saildrone builds wind and solar-powered autonomous unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) that collect ocean data at scale for months at a time without human intervention. Founded by Richard Jenkins in 2012, the company has raised over $345M in total funding and generated an estimated $43M in revenue in FY24 (up 231% YoY). Saildrone's fleet of USVs operates globally for hurricane forecasting, ocean mapping, Maritime surveillance, and climate monitoring.

Verified record

Verified deployments
9 deployments on file
Active incidents
None on file

Valuation of record

DEPLOY VERIFIED
$400Mas of Oct 2025

Priced roundStrategic investment (Lockheed Martin) post-money

See the full valuations ranking →

Key facts

Founded

2012, Alameda, California

CEO

Richard Jenkins (Founder)

Product

Autonomous wind/solar-powered surface vehicles (Saildrones) for ocean data collection, fisheries monitoring, climate science, maritime security

Fleet

~100+ vehicles deployed across global oceans

Fundingsee investors →

Series A $14M; Series B $27M; Series C $100M; Series D $120M; total ~$261M+

Customers

NOAA, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, Australian government, commercial fisheries

Patents

USPTO patents on autonomous sailing rig, sensor pod integration, hull design (verified via assignee search)

Total fundingsee investors →

over $345M

Revenue

approximately $43M FY24 (up 231% YoY, Sacra estimate)

Data & sources

Press releases

1

Patent documents

3

Web sources

2

6 sources backing this record.View all →

Models (4)

View all models →

Current platform

Spectre

Saildrone's Spectre is its largest, fastest, and most capable platform to date, designed to fill an anti-submarine-warfare (ASW) capability gap and deliver high-speed, stealthy mission effects at sea.

maritime_surfaceView model →

Previous platform

Voyager

Saildrone's Voyager is a mid-size autonomous surface vehicle combining wind- and solar-powered propulsion with integrated sensors for persistent maritime ISR, mapping, and oceanographic data collection in coastal and offshore waters.

maritime_surfaceView model →

Previous platform

Surveyor

Saildrone's Surveyor is its largest extreme-range blue-water autonomous surface vehicle, combining wind-powered propulsion with solar-powered meteorological, oceanographic, acoustic, and ISR sensors for long-endurance deep-ocean mapping and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

maritime_surfaceView model →

Current platform

Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor)

Saildrone (founded 2012 in Alameda, California by Richard Jenkins, with retired three-star admiral John Mustin as president) is the canonical commercial autonomous surface vessel company, operating wind- and solar-powered uncrewed surface vehicles for ocean data collection, mapping, and maritime domain awareness. Its line spans the 7-meter Explorer, the 10-meter Voyager, and the 20-meter Surveyor, with a new 52-meter diesel-electric hybrid Spectre announced in 2026 for delivery in 2027 that departs from the wind-and-solar identity. It runs a captive mission-operation model, owning and operating the fleet and selling data and outcomes rather than vessels, with customers including NOAA, the US Navy's 4th Fleet for counter-narcotics and illegal-fishing work, and Denmark's EIFO, and funding including a $100 million Series C, a $60 million EIFO round in May 2025, and a $50 million Lockheed Martin strategic investment in October 2025. The registry records it at commercial maturity, the most mature commercial surface-autonomy player, on twelve-plus years of operation, 130-plus vehicles, and recurring contracts. A significant cap-flag applies to its cumulative-scale figures, which are inconsistent across its own channels: an October 2023 primary milestone of 1,042,620 nautical miles, 32,438 days at sea, and 136 vehicles is the defensible verified anchor, while its homepage now claims more than 2 million nautical miles and a separate 2026 figure cites 2.5 million miles, both with the day-count frozen at 60,000, so the 2-to-2.5-million-mile claims are treated as not verified. The strongest discrete verified scale is its Navy 4th Fleet operation of about 130,000 nautical miles over roughly 2,700 mission-days. Its autonomy is genuine, though the degree of human supervision during missions is undisclosed.

maritime_surfaceView model →

Saildrone on the deployment map

View the global map

9 verified deployments across 6 regions, newest verified Jul 2026. Explore where Saildrone's robots are operating, by place and type.

Free to use on your site, with a link back to DEPLOY.

View the full Saildrone deployment record →

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Relationships

LLockheed MartinInvestorEEIFO (Export and Investment Fund of Denmark)InvestorLLux CapitalInvestorWWashington Harbor PartnersInvestorCCrowley Maritime CorporationInvestorAAcademy SecuritiesInvestorPPinegroveInvestorBBONDInvestorSSocial CapitalInvestorXXNInvestor

Explainers

Plain-language answers to the questions people ask about Saildrone, from DEPLOY’s explainer library. Each is written in the language of the question and cross-checked against this registry.

What is a maritime robot?
A maritime robot is an autonomous uncrewed vehicle (USV surface + AUV/UUV subsea) operating in the maritime regulatory regime for ocean data collection + commercial + defense operations. Per DEPLOY's framework, the cohort enumerates as: surface×commercial (Saildrone fleet) + surface×defense (Saronic Corsair/Mirage/Marauder) + subsea×defense triad (Anduril Dive-LD + Anduril Ghost Shark + HII REMUS) + subsea×commercial (Bedrock Ocean) + autonomy-system (Sea Machines) + hybrid surface+subsea (Ocean Aero Triton) + legacy-prime entity-scoped (Kongsberg HUGIN AUV + Exail DriX USV). Editorial throughlines: regime matrix (surface×commercial vs surface×defense vs subsea×commercial vs subsea×defense vs autonomy-system vs hybrid); new-defense maritime extension (Saronic + Anduril extend Anduril+Helsing+Shield-AI new-defense from aerial into water, contrasting HII REMUS legacy prime); entity-scoping discipline (registry entity scoped to AI-primary vehicle not parent corp); captive-data-as-a-service vs hardware-sale vs autonomy-system-vendor business-model split.Read the full explainer →
What is Saildrone?
Saildrone is the canonical commercial surface autonomous vessel exemplar in the maritime cohort. The company operates a wind-and-solar-powered USV fleet (Explorer + Voyager + Surveyor classes) on a captive data-as-a-service business model: Saildrone owns + operates the fleet, sells ocean data to customers including NOAA + US Navy + climate research + commercial ocean-monitoring partners. Cumulative deployment milestone: 1.04M cumulative nautical miles as 2023 primary milestone per primary-source disclosure (cap-flagged; current figure should be verified against current Saildrone public statements rather than inconsistent larger figures 2-2.5M nm range in aggregator channels). Per DEPLOY's framework, Saildrone is the verified-at-scale commercial surface autonomy entity; the captive-service business model contrasts structurally with Saronic's hardware-sale defense posture.Read the full explainer →

Current leadership (7)

Founders (1)

See all founders across the registry →

Board (3)

Safety record

No incidents on record for Saildrone.

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 →

Operator customers (1)

Recent coverage

Saildrone in third-party press

Norway’s UMOE Mandal to produce Saildrone Surveyor V3

Aug 25, 2026

US Navy tests Lockheed Martin missile system aboard unmanned vessel for precision strike

Aug 22, 2026

VIDEO: Saildrone USV Fires JAGM Missiles

Aug 20, 2026

Peers

34 peers across 1 segment. Every Saildrone 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%