London-based maritime tech startup Spot Ship has raised €1.15 million (£1 million) in a fresh funding round to modernise global ship chartering.
The round was led by the Lisbon-based venture capital fund Ventures.eu, with participation from Improbable’s CEO, Herman Narula, industry-specialist investors Tradeworks.vc and Marcel Kind. This deal marks Ventures.eu’s inaugural investment from its Fund I.
Fernando Ferreira, Managing Partner at Ventures.eu, commented, “We are thrilled to support Spot Ship as our inaugural investment. Our mission is to identify Europe’s most promising, market-ready innovations and help them scale by opening doors to the right corporate partners. Spot Ship has demonstrated exceptional technology, strong execution, and a clear opportunity to become a category leader.”
Founded in 2019 by James Kellett and Henry Waterfield, Spot Ship is a cloud-based SaaS platform modernising global ship chartering. The British startup claims to transform maritime logistics by reducing vessel chartering times from six days to just two hours by using AI and machine learning for brokers, charterers, ship owners, and operators.
“We see Spot Ship as the system of insight and action for fixing ships, cargoes, and insurance. Their AI-driven intelligence, with human-in-the-loop assurance, delivers best-in-class data accuracy, turning unstructured emails into actionable intelligence. This, combined with an amazingly dedicated team, provides a strong foundation for expansion into new markets,” commented Niklas Holck, Managing Partner at Tradeworks.vc.
Spot Ship’s solutions and features include a position directory, global vessel tracking, emissions calculator, interactive maps, voyage calculator for Time Charter Equivalent (TCE), and an updated database of over 7,500 global ports, including information on crane facilities, as well as draft and beam restrictions.
According to the company, its parsing technology removes the admin burden of brokers, charterers, and operators, and helps identify an optimal vessel or cargo in minutes.
With this funding, Spot Ship aims to modernise global ship chartering. “Our mission is to bring 21st-century speed to a centuries-old industry. Ventures.eu shares that vision and has delivered value from day one,” stated James Kellett, founder and CEO, Spot Ship.
Ventures.eu is a venture capital fund management company that invests in early-stage startups across Europe. It focuses on disruptive industries such as Deeptech and AI and provides strategic support and investments ranging from €0.2 million to €4 million, promoting the innovation and growth of the startups it supports.
As part of the investment process, Ventures.eu has introduced Spot Ship to shipping companies and industry experts using its network. According to the firm, it does not just focus on existing customers; it also helps bring new high-value prospective clients. Ventures.eu claims that this has resulted in Spot Ship securing additional customer engagements and attracting further co-investors.
“Their (Ventures.eu’s) ability to bridge the gap between a startup and global shipping giants has already resulted in new customers and investors, and we’re thrilled to have them leading this round as we modernise ship chartering globally,” Kellett further noted.
Ventures.eu claims to utilise a model that combines proprietary sourcing via Dealflow.eu and hands-on commercial validation. In an exclusive interview with EU-Startups, Thijs Povel, founder of Dealflow.eu and Ventures.eu, explained how the firm’s data-driven approach to sourcing and vetting startups gives it an edge over other venture capital funds and the role that the extensive network from Dealflow.eu plays in this. He stated, “Thanks to our data engine, which provides real-time and AI-enriched information about thousands of startups, investors, and corporations, we are able to source and support the most promising new innovations.
“Leveraging our network of corporates and helping them establish business deals with these startups allows us to invest in the startups when they need it most—when they are ready to scale up their production as they have found product market fit. This gives Ventures.eu a unique opportunity to invest at the right time while the company is still early with little revenue and a lot of upside potential.”
Ventures.eu Fund I aims to back technology-driven companies that address real industry challenges across Europe. Its first close was announced in July 2025.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/01/ventures-eus-fund-i-marks-its-maiden-voyage-by-leading-the-e1-1-million-round-in-maritime-tech-startup-spot-ship/
