How to Pitch ShipsFocus Ventures

Investment Thesis

We look for market wedges where maritime complexity can become operational leverage—not just incremental software. Incremental software makes a process 10% faster. Operational leverage rewires how the entire workflow functions — creating network effects, data moats, and pricing power.​ We look for teams that have identified a specific, painful wedge in the maritime workflow — a single point of friction where the industry has normalized inefficiency — and built a solution that, once adopted, becomes impossible to remove.​ That wedge could be:​ Port call optimization that saves hours per vessel​ Digital freight forwarding that connects the long tail of SMEs​ Predictive maintenance that catches failures before they happen​ Trade finance automation that unlocks working capital​ Emissions tracking that turns compliance into a commercial advantage​ From that wedge, we help founders expand into adjacent workflows — not just to build a broader platform, but to unlock new business models that don't exist today. Because the real value isn't just in doing more of the same — it's in reimagining how value is created, captured, and shared across the supply chain.​ We back founders who see beyond the wedge — to the platform, the network, and the new commercial model that emerges when operational leverage is fully realized.

What They Look For

Typical check size: $250000M – $2000000M

Red Flags

Things ShipsFocus Ventures investors watch for — avoid these in your pitch.

• No traction.
• No MVP.

Questions They'll Ask

Prepare answers for these. The AI persona will challenge you on them.

• Who are you, and how is what you are building related to who you are?
• Why and how what you are building matters to global seaborne trade?
• How are you going to leverage us to make you and us successful?

1 AI Persona to Pitch