Devon-based Tope Ocean is developing technology and services to help the aquaculture sector remotely monitor crops and infrastructure with its innovative low-cost offshore data buoy system.
With tailored innovation and growth support from Innovate UK, the company has secured more than £182,000 in grant funding, more than doubled its turnover in just two years and created new jobs with further hires planned as it continues to scale.
Once developed, Tope Ocean’s buoy technology aims to gather data from multiple environmental sensors and cameras, edge process and interpret this data and then transmit it ashore for farm operators and other stakeholders. The processed data will be used to provide actionable insights to farm operators, reducing crop risks, enabling optimisation of farm operations and cutting costs and greenhouse gas emissions through a reduction in site inspections.
Ian Godfrey, CEO at Tope Ocean, says: “Access to data is a common problem across many marine industries from aquaculture to offshore renewable energy to maritime transport. Our system provides a way for farmers to monitor stock health saving both time and resources. By making vital information more affordable and accessible, we are helping farmers run more productive and sustainable operations.”
Funding and finance fuel growth
Tope Ocean began working with Innovate UK Business Growth in 2024. Following a detailed needs assessment, Innovation and Growth Specialist, Matt Borne, worked closely with the company to identify areas where its growth could be accelerated.
Together they pinpointed the need to strengthen Tope Ocean’s approach to funding and finance, strengthen its marketing and customer messaging and protect its intellectual property (IP). A tailored action plan was then developed with the company to guide the next stages of its growth journey.
At the outset, Tope Ocean received advice on the optimal juncture in the journey to deploy grant funding and what to focus on in applying. With this support, the company secured a £99,000 Innovate UK Marine Funding Launchpad grant.
Ian adds: “The constructive feedback we received was instrumental in taking our application over the line. The Marine Funding Launchpad grant is enabling us to build a second iteration of our data buoy system as a proof of concept for customers and investors. Having that proof of concept is vital to gaining credibility and helping us demonstrate the value of our technology to both clients and future partners.”
The company also secured £83,000 through Innovate UK’s Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC) Round 4. This work focused on developing clean shipping technology, separate from the data buoy system that remains Tope Ocean’s primary focus. The intellectual property generated through CMDC4 is now supporting the buoy innovation, creating wider opportunities for the business.
This public funding supported the development of green technologies to decarbonise the UK’s maritime sector, delivered in collaboration with lead partners C-MAT Technologies and Morek Engineering, together with University College London, First Marine Solutions, Solis Marine, Celtic Sea Power and the Natural Environment Research Council.
Ian explains: “CMDC 4 was a really good way of getting to know larger organisations and working alongside them. It’s led to a lot of collaboration and onward opportunities, including a client relationship with the University of Exeter. Those partnerships have opened doors that would have been difficult to access without Innovate UK Business Growth support.”
Read the full news article here – Tope Ocean rides wave of growth with Innovate UK – Maritime UK South West
