Schmidt Marine Technology Partners

Schmidt Marine Technology Partners is a venture philanthropy organization focused on early-stage ocean technology development, with grants ranging from $150,000 to $500,000 for projects addressing marine ecosystem health, sustainable fisheries, and oceanographic innovation. Rather than traditional equity-based VC, they operate a grants-only model without taking equity stakes, making them ideal for founders developing ocean technologies that may not fit traditional VC criteria but have strong commercialization potential. The organization supports technologies across all development stages but particularly emphasizes the early phases when capital is most scarce, with recent grant recipients in seven countries. Their venture philanthropy approach fills a critical gap for ocean entrepreneurs working on bycatch reduction, illegal fishing prevention, marine habitat restoration, and ocean monitoring.