Iván Hernández Dalas: Blue Water Autonomy nets $50M to build autonomous ships

An image of a Navy ship at sunset.

Blue Water Autonomy said its autonomous ship is designed for mass production and endurance on the open ocean. | Source: Blue Water Autonomy

Blue Water Autonomy, a Boston-based company designing and building unmanned ships for the U.S. Navy, raised $50 million in Series A funding. Today’s announcement follows Blue Water’s $14 million seed round announced in April 2025, bringing the company’s total funding raised to $64 million.

Blue Water Autonomy said it will build and deploy its first long-range, full-sized autonomous ship next year. Since the seed round, the Blue Water Autonomy team has quadrupled in size, completed on-water engineering tests, and started acquiring long-lead material from more than 50 selected suppliers.

“There is an urgent need for autonomous ships designed specifically for maritime security and logistics. This funding gives our team the resources to build long-range autonomous ships from the keel up that will operate on the open ocean for months at a time,” said CEO Rylan Hamilton. “Blue Water Autonomy is laser-focused on perfecting a single platform class. This intentional strategy ensures unmatched quality, speed to market, and reliability from day one.”

Hamilton is former co-founder of 6 River Systems, an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) developer that was acquired by Shopify in September 2019 for $450 million. It was best knowing for the Chuck AMR. 

GV led the round, which also included participation from all of Blue Water Autonomy’s existing investors, Eclipse, Riot, and Impatient Ventures. As part of today’s news, GV Managing Partner Dave Munichiello joins the company’s Board of Directors.

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Blue Water wants to keep up with China

Currently, China is dominating global shipbuilding. The country has over 200 times greater shipbuilding capacity than the U.S., and is growing its combat fleet with new naval tonnage. Now, Pentagon leadership is accelerating plans for autonomous vessels that will help bolster the U.S. fleet. The Pentagon is leveraging $2.1 billion in new Congressional funding for the medium-sized unmanned surface vessels like those Blue Water Autonomy builds.

Future unmanned ships must be producible, affordable platforms that can deliver varied payloads, while complementing and supporting the advanced capabilities of traditional naval assets, Blue Water Autonomy said. While focused on initial naval applications, Blue Water’s leadership sees a massive opportunity in commercial maritime markets that are replete with dull, dangerous, and dirty jobs at sea.

The team recently opened a Washington D.C. office and has grown to include shipbuilding veterans with a track record of delivering over 30 ships to the U.S. Navy, including complex destroyers and amphibious ships, and DARPA’s fully autonomous NOMARS.

Founded in 2024, Blue Water Autonomy said its autonomous ships fully integrate hardware, software, and AI, allowing the vessel to operate on the open ocean for months at a time. The company emerged from stealth in April 2025, having developed a full-stack autonomy suite, commenced saltwater testing, and developed concept ship designs. 

The post Blue Water Autonomy nets $50M to build autonomous ships appeared first on The Robot Report.



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