Where is Saildrone based?

Saildrone is based in Alameda, California, USA.

What does Saildrone make?

Saildrone has 4 robot models on the DEPLOY registry: Spectre, Voyager, Surveyor and 1 other (Saildrone builds both physical robots and the AI that runs them).

Where does Saildrone operate robots?

Saildrone is a robot manufacturer and does not directly operate deployments on the DEPLOY registry. Its products are deployed by customer operators; see the company page for the verified deployment record.

Saildrone has no incidents on record in the DEPLOY registry. This does not constitute a safety guarantee; it reflects the incidents DEPLOY has tracked and verified to date.

Saildrone · DEPLOY

Overview

Canonical commercial autonomous-surface-vessel company (Alameda CA; founded 2012; founder Richard Jenkins) operating wind+solar USVs (Explorer/Voyager/Surveyor) for ocean data + maritime domain awareness; captive mission-operation model.

Verified record

Verified deployments: None on file
Active incidents: None on file

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Analyst-grade signals, competitive tracking, and investment context across the global physical AI landscape. Launching 2026.

Key facts

Founded

2012, Alameda, California

CEO

Richard Jenkins (founder, land-sailing speed record holder)

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

Funding

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)

Deploy Watch

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Data & sources

Press releases1
Patent documents1
Web sources2

4 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.

maritimeView model →

Current 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.

maritimeView model →

Current 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.

maritimeView 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.

maritimeView model →

Relationships

LLockheed MartinInvestor EEIFO (Export and Investment Fund of Denmark)Investor LLux CapitalInvestor WWashington Harbor PartnersInvestor CCrowley Maritime CorporationInvestor AAcademy SecuritiesInvestor PPinegroveInvestor BBONDInvestor SSocial CapitalInvestor XXNInvestor

Current leadership (7)

Richard Jenkins Founder & CEOsecondary-verified
John Mustin PresidentIR-verified
Tom Alexander Chief Government Relations OfficerIR-verified
Jen Betz Chief Financial OfficerIR-verified
Robert Kleist European Managing DirectorIR-verified
Trevor Morrison ctosecondary-verified
Susan Choi executivesecondary-verified

Founders (1)

Richard Jenkinssolefounded 2012-01-01

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.

Operator customers (1)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration1 deployment

Recent coverage

Saildrone in third-party press

US Navy to deploy thousands of unmanned surface vessels to the Indo-Pacific by 2030

Apr 21, 2026

Peer companies

Financial state

Reporting basis: private_reported
Lifecycle stage: growth
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.

Funding rounds (5)

Strategic investment (Lockheed Martin)2025-10-29
$50M
Investors: Lockheed Martin (strategic)
Equity round (2025)2025-05-13
$60M
Investors: EIFO (Export and Investment Fund of Denmark) (lead), Lux Capital, Washington Harbor Partners, Crowley Maritime Corporation, Academy Securities, Pinegrove
Series C2021-10-18
$100M
Investors: BOND (lead), Lux Capital, Social Capital, XN, Standard Investments, Emerson Collective, Crowley Maritime Corporation, Capricorn Investment Group, Tribe Capital
Series B2018-05-15
$60M
Investors: Horizons Ventures (lead)
Series A2016-01-01
$14M(reported)
Investors: Social Capital (lead), Capricorn Investment Group, Lux Capital

Patent estate (1)

US9381985usptograntedassignee

Sources (3)

Common questions

What is Saildrone?: Canonical commercial autonomous-surface-vessel company (Alameda CA; founded 2012; founder Richard Jenkins) operating wind+solar USVs (Explorer/Voyager/Surveyor) for ocean data + maritime domain awareness; captive mission-operation model.
Where is Saildrone based?: Saildrone is based in Alameda, California, USA.
When was Saildrone founded?: Saildrone was founded in 2012.
What does Saildrone make?: Saildrone has 4 robot models on the DEPLOY registry: Spectre, Voyager, Surveyor and 1 other (Saildrone builds both physical robots and the AI that runs them).
Where does Saildrone operate robots?: Saildrone is a robot manufacturer and does not directly operate deployments on the DEPLOY registry. Its products are deployed by customer operators; see the company page for the verified deployment record.
Is Saildrone safe?: Saildrone has no incidents on record in the DEPLOY registry. This does not constitute a safety guarantee; it reflects the incidents DEPLOY has tracked and verified to date.

Methodology: Verified · 3 sources (1 primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-03

Verification posture

Verified

High confidence

Review state

Stable

Last reviewed 2026-07-03

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.

Peer companies

In the press

Recent coverage mentioning Saildrone from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.

AgentReconApr 21, 2026

US Navy to deploy thousands of unmanned surface vessels to the Indo-Pacific by 2030

The US Navy announced plans to deploy thousands of unmanned surface vessels to the Indo-Pacific by 2030 as part of the Replicator initiative, which seeks to procure USVs, UAS, and…

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Machine-readable surfaces

Markdown mirror: /companies/saildrone.md
RSS feed: /companies/saildrone/feed.xml
JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
REST API: /v1/companies/cf9ac30f-cbfb-4469-96ef-452e4f16f920
Revision history: /companies/saildrone/history
Data documentation: /data
Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP

Peer companies

DEPLOY Intelligence Score

36.8/ 100

vs 6 months ago

6-month trend

Peer rankingTop 8% of Maritime

vs funding peers-2.6 ptsbelow funding-adj. expected

Analysis

Clean safety record across 1 verified deployment. Well-capitalized with $284M raised and recent funding activity. Limited public visibility and press coverage relative to peers.

Signal flags

New deployment

Dimension breakdown

Safety Record

95.0MED

Funding Health

75.7HIGH

IP Activity

10.2MED

Deployment Scale

7.8MED

Hiring Signal

0.0LOW

Market Presence

0.0LOW

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.

Last computed: Jul 3, 2026

Intelligence layer