blueOASIS, a Portuguese startup focused on ocean sustainability and security, has received an investment from Insight Venture as part of its ongoing €3.75 million funding round, to support the development of its Hydrotwin real-time underwater acoustic monitoring platform.
Insight Venture, a venture capital firm focused on disruptive sustainable projects, is the first investor to participate in the current round, according to information shared with Portugal Startup News.
The size of Insight Venture’s investment and the amount raised so far in the round were not disclosed. Dexterity and Portugal Ventures invested in a previous round.
blueOASIS develops integrated technological projects and solutions combining offshore engineering, underwater acoustics, artificial intelligence, and digital twins, aimed at enabling practical, real-world ocean protection.
Hydrotwin is the company’s real-time underwater acoustic platform designed to detect, classify, and locate events in the ocean using passive acoustic sensors, Internet-of-Things systems, and AI.
The autonomous units integrate hydrophones and advanced computing modules and can be deployed in offshore areas, coastal zones, and ports. Data collected by the system is made available through a digital tool that supports operational, scientific, and safety-related decision-making.
The platform was initially developed to detect biological sound sources such as whales, dolphins, and orcas. It now has a growing focus on maritime defense and security, including tracking threats and suspicious activities, detecting surface and underwater drones, identifying illegal vessels, and monitoring anthropogenic noise sources.
Hydrotwin has been validated in operational environments across multiple contexts and locations, including Faial Island in the Azores, the Port of Lisbon, Italy, Denmark, Thailand, and San Francisco, California.
The company has also participated in five editions of the Portuguese Navy’s REPMUS exercise. During REPMUS 2025, held in Sesimbra and Tróia, eight Hydrotwin units were operated simultaneously, including moored buoys, drifting buoys, tethered versions, and unmanned surface vehicle versions. blueOASIS described the exercise as one of the most relevant in Europe dedicated to unmanned maritime systems.
According to Insight Venture, cited in the press release shared by blueOASIS, the investment reflects confidence in the maturity and robustness of the company’s proprietary technology and in the validation of the platform in real-world operations, reinforcing the ambition of positioning Portugal at the forefront of innovation in underwater acoustics.
Use of funds and expansion plans
The funding will support commercial and operational expansion, including team growth and increased capacity to respond to projects and sales in national and international markets.
It will also be used to accelerate the development of new Hydrotwin platforms, with a focus on performance, scalability, and ease of deployment.
In addition, the company plans to advance the creation of the North Atlantic Acoustics Center on Faial Island.
The planned center is intended to consolidate the Azores as an innovation and operational hub for ocean intelligence and underwater acoustics.
Guilherme Beleza Vaz, CEO of blueOASIS, said the company aims to become a European and global reference in ocean intelligence, covering acoustics, edge computing, real-time systems, and AI, and to deploy more than 400 Hydrotwin sensors across the Atlantic Ocean within two years.
“All of this is to guarantee the environmental protection and safety of our sea and our critical maritime and coastal infrastructures,” he said, adding that the company takes pride in creating impact on a global scale.
The company said the funding round remains ongoing and open to strategic partners aligned with its mission of accelerating ocean protection through advanced monitoring technology and AI.
Featured image: blueOASIS participated in the Portuguese Navy’s REPMUS 2025 exercise with multiple Hydrotwin units. (Photo courtesy of blueOASIS/LinkedIn)
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