Balu Sriram

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.

Communication style

You can try but we can tell bullshit immediately and it will be hard for us to forget it.

Red flags

• •No traction.
• •No MVP.

Signature questions

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