The early-stage venture capital firm Redstone has raised 25 million euros in the first closing of its new fund, Redstone Blue. This fund is entirely focused on supporting startups aiming to modernize ocean-related industries, making them cleaner, smarter, and more efficient.
The fund's objective is to find early-stage companies that can generate revenue while improving the state of the marine industry. Redstone Blue targets startups at the earliest stages—from pre-seed to Series A, when a company is just starting out and needs capital for testing and product development. Although the fund was launched in 2025, the raised 25 million euros represent the first major funding tranche.
The fund is co-led by Klas Johansen and Tuomo Veivo, who joined Redstone last year to implement the new blue economy strategy. They work alongside Kai Hagros, Redstone's Managing Partner for the Nordics. The financing was secured from diverse investors, including business angels, family offices, funds, institutions, and companies already operating in the maritime sector.
Among the named investors are the City of Turku in Finland, Meriaura Invest, Aboa Advest, LähiTapiola, Kelonia, Rausanne, Adamo Capital – Founders Family Office, Henrik Paasikivi, Magnus Kihlgren, and ARGOng Investment AG.
Redstone does not plan to finance all aspects of the ocean; the focus is concentrated on four areas where technology can rapidly transform outdated industries. These areas include:
Cleaner shipping and ports:
In this area, startups are developing electric equipment, route optimization tools, and tracking systems to make vessels and ports less polluting and more efficient.
Ocean energy and infrastructure:
The goal is to harness energy from the ocean and create the necessary infrastructure to support it, ensuring clean energy generation from the sea without harming marine life.
Ocean data and monitoring:
Since the ocean is vast and largely unmonitored, companies use satellites, drones, and artificial intelligence to collect data.
Blue biotechnology and water technologies:
Here, biological resources from the ocean are used to create new products such as medicines, food, and materials, as well as developing water purification, waste removal, and marine fauna protection technologies.
Redstone emphasized that it is interested in founders focused on market returns, not just grants. The core idea is to modernize traditional industries and ensure their profitability and sustainability.
Despite the appeal of the blue economy, startups in this field face significant challenges. The ocean is characterized by salinity, storms, and high operating costs. Sensors or robots that work successfully in a laboratory often fail in the open sea, and testing requires substantial time and financial investment.
Furthermore, sales cycles develop slowly because ports, shipping companies, and governments are slow to adopt new technologies, requiring proof of functionality and no disruption to current operations. Scaling up is also complex: even if a startup succeeds in one port or region, global implementation requires accounting for various regulations, languages, and partners.
Finally, investment returns are not guaranteed, as some ocean technologies may require over ten years to become profitable, which is a long period for venture investors accustomed to results within five to seven years. The raised 25 million euros is only the first stage, and Redstone will likely approach investors again later to increase the fund size. While the team begins investing in early-stage companies in these four priority areas, they expect these technological developers to capture large markets in the coming years.