Seasats, a U.S.-based developer of portable, high-endurance autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs), has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Konvoy. The company designs ASVs like the Lightfish for persistent survey missions and the Quickfish for high-speed tactical response. The new capital will scale production of these small uncrewed surface vehicles to meet surging defense demand.
DoD Accelerates ASV Deployments
The timing aligns with intensifying U.S. Department of Defense focus on uncrewed maritime systems. Seasats recently won $24 million in DoD APFIT funding to speed fielding and an $89 million U.S. Marine Corps contract. Proven in real-world ops, including a record 62-day transatlantic crossing by Lightfish and Quickfish demos with Navy Task Force 66 and Marines in the Pacific.
Hazardous ocean environments demand persistent surveillance for submarine threats, illegal fishing, pipelines, and hurricanes, but crewed vessels expose sailors to extreme risks and rack up multimillion-dollar costs per mission. Sea state 6+ conditions and GPS-denied areas amplify dangers, while limited endurance hampers coverage over vast oceans covering 71% of Earth. Traditional solutions fall short on portability, modularity, and long-term persistence.
Portable ASVs Unlock Persistent Coverage
Seasats addresses this with ultra-portable ASVs deployable by 1-2 people—Lightfish fits in a pickup truck at 305 lbs, cruises at 5 knots for up to 6 months on 66 lbs payload. Quickfish hits 35+ knots at 1,450 lbs for multi-week tactical missions with 450 lbs payload. Both handle sea state 6, GPS-denied ops, and integrate 50+ modular payloads including drones for networked ocean-wide awareness.
Unlike bulkier competitors reliant on larger platforms, Seasats emphasizes extreme portability and endurance for rapid deployment in contested waters. The upcoming Heavyfish, due Fall 2026, will offer 12 knots, 9,000 lbs displacement, 6-month endurance, and 1,000 lbs payload for heavy-lift tasks.
Konvoy's lead investment signals strong belief in Seasats' path to dominate scalable ASV production amid DoD's Replicator initiative for attritable autonomous fleets. Prior to this Series A, Seasats completed 6 funding rounds and secured major contracts, positioning it for growth capital to ramp manufacturing. This blend of venture and government validation underscores a market shift toward distributed, low-risk maritime operations.
Uncrewed Vessels Reshape Naval Strategy
U.S. naval strategy increasingly favors uncrewed systems to counter peer competitors in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, where Seasats vehicles have operated with Task Force 66. Recent validations like the fastest USV transatlantic crossing and Pacific exercises highlight maturing tech ready for scale. With 49 employees and deployments alongside elite forces, Seasats captures momentum in a fragmenting ASV landscape differentiated by speed, payload, and portability.
The $20 million will fuel production scaling, enabling broader adoption across defense, scientific research, and commercial sectors like algal bloom tracking and subsea mapping. Heavyfish's 2026 launch targets heavy-payload missions, while existing models expand via U.S. military partnerships.