The startup Quartermaster has raised $140 million in a Series B round to expand its SmartMast system, which mounts cameras and communications equipment on ship masts to collect real-time maritime data. The company says more than 650 vessels in 25 countries currently use the system, as it prepares to begin deploying it across entire fleets.
Quartermaster, which specializes in maritime activity intelligence, has closed a $140 million Series B funding round, just months after raising $43 million in a Series A round. The company plans to use the funding to expand manufacturing of its SmartMast system and accelerate its deployment across commercial fleets.
The round was led by Insight Partners, with participation from Overmatch Ventures and existing investors including First Round Capital, while $40 million of the funding came in the form of a debt facility provided by investment bank Stifel. Founder and CEO Neil Sobin said the round was preceded by outreach from Insight Partners, and that shipping disruptions linked to the war in Iran increased investor interest in the need for real-time maritime data.
What Does SmartMast Provide?
The system consists of a package that combines cameras and radio devices and is mounted on a ship’s mast. Unlike the Automatic Identification System (AIS), which primarily provides periodic location signals, SmartMast captures more detailed data about maritime activity and sends it in real time to relevant parties.
Governments, shipping companies, and insurance providers can use this data to understand vessel movements and congestion in maritime corridors, help avoid collisions, and support searches for missing sailors. According to Sobin, each system records tens of gigabytes of data daily, while the company and its customers are still discovering new uses for the data.
System Deployment and the Next Stage
Quartermaster said SmartMast is now installed on more than 650 vessels in 25 countries, and that it has shipped more than 800 systems to customers. The difference between the number of systems shipped and the number of equipped vessels is partly due to the company preparing to begin deploying the system across entire fleets, rather than limiting it to trials or small-scale installations.
To meet demand, the company has doubled its manufacturing capacity and continues to modify the design to accelerate device production. This indicates that the immediate challenge is no longer simply proving that data can be collected, but producing, installing, and operating the devices at scale.
Why Does This News Matter?
The funding represents Quartermaster’s transition from testing the concept of maritime sensing to attempting to build a distributed data network across multiple vessels. The practical value comes not only from a device aboard a single vessel, but from the accumulation of real-time data that can give operators a broader view than traditional AIS signals.
However, the source leaves a number of operational questions unanswered, including the accuracy of the data under different maritime conditions, how to manage the tens of gigabytes recorded daily, and whether new uses will become scalable paid services. The figures cited for deployment and applications also come from the company itself, and the source provides no independent assessment of the system’s performance or results compared with existing solutions.