Post by Ryan Jones

Late to the announcement, but never too late to give Joost den Haan and the PlanBlue team the credit they deserve. We know our oceans absorb over 90% of excess heat from climate change. Yet, with less than 20% of the seafloor mapped in any meaningful ecological detail, we're making it nearly impossible to track blue carbon, protect habitats, or incentivize coastal resilience. It’s not just a data gap, it’s a fundamental barrier for new climate solutions. Most interventions depend on the depth and credibility of what we can measure. Until now, seafloor monitoring, ground truthing, and data collection in the ocean has been patchy, slow, and limited to a handful of basic outputs. The usual suspects (advanced imaging, AI, and cloud analytics) are transforming how we collect and understand marine data—unlocking richer layers of insight for restoration, adaptation, and investment. As with any nascent market, this comes first. But next, we need new incentives so that every boat, AUV and ROV in the water can be a part of the solution. PlanBlue is making this shift happen, helping make the underwater world visible, verifiable, and actionable for climate progress. Excited to be diving deeper into ocean space with Cisco’s Regenerative Future Fund—adding PlanBlue to the growing family of ocean tech across our fund (Aikido Technologies, Ebb Carbon) & strategic fund at Cisco Investments (CorPower Ocean). Our partners are doing incredible work to build out this market and grateful for their support in understanding where we can be most catalytic. Elias Habbar-Baylac Jocelyn Matyas Ponderosa Ventures Galvanize Builders Vision Chloë Payne Anthony Cortese Chris Wu Katherine Moldow Conner Lachenbruch Steven Fox Benjamin Lesage Sustainable Ocean Alliance Katapult