The verified answer
As of Sep 2026, DEPLOY verifies Sea Machines Robotics: 2 models, 1 deployment across 1 region, $15.0M raised. 3 sources back the record.
CategoryMaritime
Overview
Sea machines Robotics is a Boston-based marine autonomy-system vendor founded by Michael Johnson, selling the SM300 and SM200 vessel-agnostic autonomous navigation systems for commercial vessels. The STORMRUNNER is an optionally-crewed autonomous vessel for offshore operations.
Verified record
- Verified deployments
- 1 deployment on file
- Active incidents
- None on file
Valuation of record
DEPLOY VERIFIEDPriced roundSeries B post-money
Key facts
Product
Model
Founder
Target vessels
HQ
Key product
Deployment
Data & sources
Press releases
2
Web sources
1
3 sources backing this record.View all →
Models (2)
View all models →Current platform
STORMRUNNER
Sea Machines' STORMRUNNER is an 8-meter HDPE unmanned surface vessel for defense customers, with a top speed of about 40 knots, over 500 nautical miles of range, and roughly 1,100 lb of payload capacity.
Current platform
SM300 / SM200
Sea Machines Robotics (Boston; founded by Michael Johnson) is an autonomy-system vendor for surface vessels rather than a vessel maker: its SM300 and SM200 autonomous-command systems are vessel-agnostic retrofit kits, about ten components installed in two days or less on existing or new-build workboats from 10 to 300 feet, so the customer owns and operates the boat while Sea Machines supplies the autonomy brain. The September 2025 SM300-NG adds class-society-approved hardware, a 200-percent compute increase, full voyage control with collision avoidance and sensor fusion, and worldwide remote command, alongside an attritable SM300-SP defense variant. A late-2024 leadership transition saw David Wasson, formerly of Huntington Ingalls, become CEO with founder Johnson moving to president and chief technology officer, a defense-pull hire rather than a distress signal given record 2024 sales and a defense expansion, on a $10 million Series C in March 2025 and about $52 million total raised. The registry records it at commercial maturity on the strength of a real shipping product, class-society approval, and more than 200 systems delivered worldwide, and it credits the company with units delivered rather than sea-days, since its autonomy runs on other companies' hulls and operational scale at sea is not directly attributable to it. Its autonomy is genuine, with edge perception, collision avoidance, path-following, and remote command, and it holds the strongest regulatory signal of the commercial set in its class-society-approved hardware, while the specific class society, named commercial customers, the SM300-SP hundred-units-per-month throughput, and specific defense contract values are not verified.
Partnerships
Every company Sea Machines Robotics has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most-frequent partners
- 1Damen Shipyards1× joint2 total
- 2Schottel1× joint1 total
Most recent
- with Damen Shipyardsoperating
Sea Machines Robotics on the deployment map
View the global map1 verified deployment across 1 region, newest verified Aug 2022. Explore where Sea Machines Robotics's robots are operating, by place and type.
View the full Sea Machines Robotics deployment record →
Relationships
Current leadership (1)
- Michael Johnson Founder & CEOsince 2016-01-01secondary-verified
Founders (1)
- Michael Johnsonsolefounded 2016-01-01
Safety record
No incidents on record for Sea Machines Robotics.
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)
- Sea Machines Robotics1 deployment
Recent coverage
Sea Machines Robotics in third-party press
Peers
34 peers across 1 segment. Every Sea Machines Robotics 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
- Blue Water Autonomydirect competitor(inferred)strong
- Deep Trekkerdirect competitor(inferred)strong
- ECA Groupdirect competitor(inferred)strong
Supplied by (1)
Compute / semiconductor
- NVIDIAvia SM300 / SM200NVIDIA DRIVE compute -- autonomous situational awareness and perception for SM300/SM200supplies
Inbound supply edges feeding this company directly or via the models it owns. Same source bar as the outbound view (verified against at least two strong sources).
Financial state
- Total funding
- $15.0M
- Reporting basis
- aggregator_estimate
- 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.
Partnerships
2 total · 1 operating · 1 just announced
Every company Sea Machines Robotics has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most recent
- with Damen Shipyardsoperating
Most-frequent partners
- 1Damen Shipyards1× joint2 total
- 2Schottel1× joint1 total
Funding rounds (1)
- Series B2020-07-01
$15M(reported) · $120M post
Investors: Accomplice (lead)
Timeline
Every recorded move in Sea Machines Robotics’s history, most recent first: funding rounds, partnerships, acquisitions, supply-chain starts, key hires, and press.
PartnershipDamen Shipyards x Sea Machines Robotics (Autonomous Vessels)
2021-02-11Damen Shipyards and Sea Machines Robotics formed a strategic alliance to integrate autonomous navigation and wireless-helm systems as standard features in Damen's global vessel build catalogue. The partnership includes training via Damen's in-house simulator integrated with Sea Machines technology.
Funding roundSeries B funding round
2020-07-01Series B raising $15000000
Key hireMichael Johnson joins as Founder & CEO
2016-01-01Michael Johnson appointed Founder & CEO (current)
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Verified media addedVerifiedJun 11, 2026
Autonomous Systems For Marine: SM300 Demonstration
- Verified media addedVerifiedJun 5, 2026
Sea Machines SM300 autonomous command system
- Record createdJun 3, 2026
Added to the verified registry
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedAug 1, 2022
SM300 / SM200 at California
Sources (3)
Common questions
What is Sea Machines Robotics?
What does Sea Machines Robotics make?
Is Sea Machines Robotics publicly traded?
Who competes with Sea Machines Robotics?
Who is the CEO of Sea Machines Robotics?
How can I invest in Sea Machines Robotics?
Where is Sea Machines Robotics headquartered?
How much funding has Sea Machines Robotics raised?
Who owns Sea Machines Robotics?
Where does Sea Machines Robotics operate robots?
How many robots has Sea Machines Robotics deployed?
Is Sea Machines Robotics a top robotics company?
When was Sea Machines Robotics founded?
Is Sea Machines Robotics safe?
Methodology: Verified · 3 sources (2 primary) · last reviewed 2026-08-21
Verification posture
Verified
High confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-08-21
Sources by quality tier
- 2
- primary-company-ir
- Company IR disclosure
- 1
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for Sea Machines Robotics.Peer companies
- Saildrone4 models
- Saronic Technologies4 models
- BAE Systems3 models
- Kongsberg Maritime3 models
- Rekise Marine3 models
- L3Harris2 models
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning Sea Machines Robotics from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
Sea Machines STORMRUNNER USV supports counter-UAS capability test
Sea Machines' STORMRUNNER USV supported counter-UAS capability distribution across maritime area. Global cooperation breakthrough on first international autonomous surface vessel…
Sea Machines Announces Emerging Record Year of Bookings and Global Growth Fueled by USV Adoption
Sea Machines Robotics announced record bookings and global growth driven by unmanned surface vessel adoption across commercial and defense maritime markets.
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /companies/sea-machines.md
- RSS feed: /companies/sea-machines/feed.xml
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/companies/9f2e1c6c-f15a-4889-9089-c97f68c241ba
- Revision history: /companies/sea-machines/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
Sea Machines builds Autonomous Control Systems for boats & ships, enabling the new era of Smart Ship Technology. The company announced their first product, the
Sea Machines autonomous marine technology can be installed aboard existing or new commercial workboats and vessels, adding capabilities that increase productivi
Jeanerette, LA – September 24th, 2019: USA-based shipbuilder Metal Shark and Sea Machines, a Boston-based leading developer of autonomous marine technology, hav
Sea Machines autonomous marine technology can be installed aboard existing or new commercial workboats and vessels, adding capabilities that increase productivi
A video depicting an unmanned surface vessel (USV) using Sea Machines Robotics autonomous self-navigating systems. In this application the USV is working as an
Romeo Papa Boats LLC. provides support activities for customers utilizing unmanned and manned operations to expand coverage with a lower cost of deployment. I
Sea Machines is pleased to announce the launch of the SEA MACHINES 300 autonomy system for commercial workboats. It enables remote & autonomous command of a ve
Maverick is the newest addition to Sea Machines growing fleet for the advancement of autonomous technologies. To learn more about Sea Machines technology, cont
Sea Machines Robotics is pushing marine autonomy to the next level. 🚢 Their RC, NXT, and DP-NXT systems transform workboats, tugs, and launches into fully aut
Emerald Portfolio Company Feature: Sea Machines Robotics Self-driving and thinking ships, boats and fleets! Founder & CTO Michael G. Johnson wants you to imag
Interview with Philip Bourque, Director of Business Development at Sea Machines Robotics at Oceanology International Americas (OIA) in San Diego, CA in Feb. 201
In episode 170, an interview I did IRL, you meet Frank Relou, Business Development and Commercial Manager, Sea Machines Robotics EMEA, who came to Gothenburg on
Heat Index
Category contender79/100
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
Sea Machines Robotics draws attention at the 38th percentile but verifies reality at the 18th percentile among maritime_surface robots. Hype Gap +19.8, 7th widest among maritime_surface robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Clean safety record across 1 verified deployment. Deployment footprint remains limited relative to category peers.
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