Marine Robotics Co Rekise Bags $9.7M Led by Accel, Nikhil Kamath’s NKSquared

Rekise Marine, an Indian company specialising in marine robotics, has raised $9.7 million in seed funding, with Accel and NKSquared leading the investment. 

The funding round also included contributions from Sameer Brij Verma, Sandeep Singhal, Industrial47, Singularity AMC, a variety of corporate leaders, the company's founders, and several family offices.

The company, founded by naval architect Maitrai Maka, aims to overhaul the maritime industry with robotics. Rekise develops autonomous ships and submarines using a comprehensive approach that integrates vessel design, systems integration, and proprietary autonomy software.

Founder and CEO Maitrai Maka, along with Rear Admiral Shekhar Mital (Retd), the Co-founder and Executive Director, stated, “At Rekise, we build autonomous ships and submarines, and at sea, the autonomy is only as good as the sensors and hardware feeding it. That is why we design the vessel, its sensors, and its software as a single system, rather than bolting them together later. What makes that repeatable is the team we are building, more than either of us, and this round lets us grow it while putting Jalkapi in the water.”

Based in Bengaluru, the startup plans to use this funding to finalise and conduct sea trials for its extra-large autonomous submarine Jalkapi, enhance its in-house autonomy software, and significantly grow its engineering team in areas such as robotics, AI/ML, embedded systems, platform systems integration, and naval architecture, along with the crews required to test and manage new platforms at sea.

The company’s software platform supports a wide range of vessels, from small, portable units to large submarines, enabling capabilities to be used across different platforms with minimal adjustments. Rekise constructs and assembles its vessels in-house, collaborating with leading Indian shipyards, such as Goa Shipyard and GRSE.

Nikhil Kamath, Founder and Investor at NKSquared, remarked in a statement, “Maritime autonomy is the capability it now needs to own. We are excited to be backing a team that brings those strengths together, pairing deep naval systems engineering with autonomy as closely as anyone in the world, and building it to a global standard for India.”

Emphasising its focus on naval autonomy, Rekise envisions its platforms and software being used in hydrographic surveying, offshore energy, ports, and inland waterways, positioning itself to meet India's defence requirements and tapping into the global maritime autonomy market.