Drone ships in series: Saronic plans its own shipyard with Port Alpha

With the Port Alpha shipyard, the start-up Saronic wants to set up rapid and scalable series production of drone ships. Construction is to be financed with almost 600 million euros that the company raised in a so-called “Series C funding round”.

According to the company, Saronic aims in this way to “close the existing capacity gap in US shipbuilding” and to “expand the US Navy's hybrid fleet (-> latest news on the US Armed Forces) with medium and large autonomous vessels”.

Drone ships for America's maritime superiority

CEO Dino Mavrookas describes the approach as follows: “We design our ships from the ground up for autonomy – with Port Alpha we are taking the same approach to shipbuilding”. The aim, he says, is manufacturing at unprecedented speed and scale “to secure America's maritime superiority for the long term”.

Investors such as Elad Gil and General Catalyst also stress Saronic's strategic importance for national security. Gil notes: “Shipbuilding in the US has declined in recent years – Saronic is bringing the industry back to the top”.

A recent press release concludes: “The company's recent successes, including the development of Corsair, the largest autonomous vessel model, the expansion with a 420,000-square-metre production facility in Austin and a successful Series B funding round, demonstrate Saronic's rapid growth”.