Swiss robotics technology company Nautica Technologies develops autonomous hull cleaning robots to promote the automated treatment of biofouling in the shipping industry | Top 100 Swiss Innovators
Image source: Nautica Technologies
The Swiss robotics technology company Nautica Technologies (hereinafter referred to as Nautica) was founded in 2024. The company is committed to developing autonomous hull cleaning robots. Nautica's robot clusters can work autonomously and collaboratively underwater to clean up the biofouling problems caused by the attachment of marine organisms to the hull, reduce ship resistance and fuel consumption, and improve operational efficiency.
Nautica was co-founded by Cedric Portmann and Mina Kamel. Cedric Portmann is the CEO of the company. He holds a master's degree in robotics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and has served as the project manager for the Soxes development project. Mina Kamel is the CTO of the company. She holds a doctorate in robotics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and is the co-founder of Voliro and Stealth Startup.
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The shipping industry, as the cornerstone of global trade, has long faced the problem of biofouling. Biofouling refers to the attachment of marine organisms such as microorganisms, algae, and barnacles to the ship's surface, which leads to an increase in hull roughness, increases the resistance and emissions of the ship's movement, reduces fuel efficiency, and poses a huge threat to the local water system. Biofouling can increase the fuel consumption of ships by an average of 35%, causing losses of billions of euros each year. Traditional hull cleaning methods, such as antifouling coatings or manual cleaning by divers, require a large amount of manpower and time or cause the ship to be out of service. In addition, the shipping industry is also one of the main sources of global greenhouse gas emissions, and the pressure of emission regulation is increasing. For example, standards such as the International Maritime Organization's Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) and the European Union's Emissions Trading System for Shipping (EU ETS) increasingly require shipping operators to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Currently, there are more than 110,000 large operating ships globally. Solving the biofouling problem will help improve ship operating efficiency and reduce carbon emissions in the shipping industry.
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Nautica has developed an autonomous hull cleaning robot that can actively clean ships, eliminate biofouling, and transform hull maintenance from a costly and passive process into an automated system that can operate around the clock, effectively reducing operating costs.
Nautica's hull cleaning robots are AI-driven, enabling the robot clusters to work collaboratively underwater. Nautica's robot clusters can quickly, efficiently, and reliably clean ships of any size during the ship's routine port calls. The process does not require GPS positioning or manual monitoring, and the robots operate completely autonomously. There is also no need for dry docking or ship stoppage preparation, and the cleaning work can be carried out anytime and anywhere, effectively replacing the existing labor-intensive hull cleaning methods.
At the same time, based on its core robots, Nautica is gradually building a full-stack software layer for fleet health management, compliance, and performance optimization. The intelligent hull AI software it has developed can use the data collected during the cleaning operation to build a digital twin model of the hull, enabling predictive maintenance and continuous monitoring.
Nautica's robots can autonomously eliminate the resistance buildup caused by biological attachment, save ship fuel, and reduce fuel consumption and emissions. Their full coverage of the hull can generate actionable hull condition and performance analyses after each cleaning. Moreover, Nautica's robots do not contain any toxic paints or chemicals, which can help enterprises fulfill their environmental protection commitments and comply with relevant regulations. Since its establishment, the company has successfully verified the effectiveness of its technology in real ship environments and has signed pilot project contracts with several global operators.
In July 2025, Nautica completed a $4 million seed round of financing. This round of financing was led by b2venture, with participation from Rethink Ventures, Partners in Clime, Prequel Ventures, etc. The funds will be used to support the company's product commercialization and technology promotion.
Nautica Technologies is one of the companies listed in the "TOP 100 Swiss Startups" in 2025. The "TOP 100 Swiss Startups" brings together the best Swiss-made startups and growth-stage technology innovation companies. It is the most internationally influential benchmark list in the field of Swiss technology innovation. Since 2011, this list has selected 100 of the most innovative Swiss companies with market prospects and 25 Swiss growth-stage companies with unicorn potential across Switzerland every year, covering fields such as life sciences, engineering machinery, robotics, information and communication, low-carbon technology, and food technology. The "TOP 100 Swiss Startups" and its series of brand activities are the iconic activities of the Swiss innovation ecosystem, representing the highest level of Swiss innovation and the forefront of international investment and financing.
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