Propeller Ventures announced four new partnerships with leading ocean science institutions, Oregon State University, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, University of California San Diego and University of Rhode Island. These partnerships build on initiatives to accelerate climate solutions with founding partner, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Working together with new partners in the West, Northwest, Northeast and Pacific regions, Propeller will further expand efforts to identify commercializable opportunities across these institutions, all of which are working at the frontier of ocean science innovation.

At Propeller, we constantly seek opportunities to inspire ocean-climate innovation and entrepreneurship. Our Hackathons help identify opportunities for research teams from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to solve problems faced in the market and uncover connections between industry and academia.

We’re excited to share that Rodrigo Prudencio has joined Propeller as our Managing Partner.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend The World Ocean Summit hosted by Economist Impact as part of my ClimateCap Fellowship and on behalf of Propeller as their MBA Venture Capital intern. A few weeks later, I’ve now had time to reflect on my experience at the Ocean Summit, and look back on main takeaways from the keynote speeches, panel discussions, and meet and greet conversations. In doing so, I have pulled together the key themes I feel were central to the summit and are critical to achieving a sustainable blue economy.

Propeller and WHOI have deepened their collaborations through the direct funding of projects that have high commercializable value to the wider world. In addition, the Ocean MBA program helps project scientists consider the needs of markets and customers, and imagine themselves as risk-takers in the entrepreneurial realm. Peter de Menocal, President & Director, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution kicks off the Ocean MBA Propeller guest mentors work in breakout sessions with WHOI researchers Propeller fielded the unique program, an “Ocean MBA”, for WHOI scientists and engineers on site January 17-18. The event kicked off with a case study by Propeller founding partner Brian Halligan to introduce a common lexicon and share the journey of HubSpot. It served as an icebreaker to provide new perspectives to ocean researchers and bridge the worlds of startups and research. Viewing their technologies as vital pieces in a value chain that enables novel activities in the new blue economy resonated with the group. Guest Lecturer Susan Schofer presents on turning hard tech into product

Today we are proud to announce our first fund of $100 million [press release],committed to innovators building scalable companies that tackle the climate crisis with science-led solutions. Our mission is to leverage and protect our planet’s greatest asset, the ocean. Propeller will accelerate the science, innovations, and solutions that can mitigate the worst effects of climate change. The ocean is critical to reducing emissions and drawing down carbon dioxide, and few know this as well as our friends and partners at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). As WHOI’s president and director, Peter deMenocal, once put it to us, “You simply can’t get there without the ocean.”

Unique partnership with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and veteran leadership team deploys vital capital to blue economy ‘narwhals’ at the nexus of ocean innovation, science and technology

Propeller's Ocean MBA - a three day mini MBA for ocean-entrepreneurs - kicked off in June 2022 with a stellar cohort of founders, and daily guest speakers on startups, and scaling innovation.