Building Bridges Across Our Ocean
OceanHub Africa and Katapult Ocean – An Alliance Forged for African Ocean Impact
In the vast and complex ocean innovation ecosystem, strategic and meaningful partnerships are vital.
The collaboration between OceanHub Africa (OHA) and Katapult Ocean (KO) exemplifies how intentional alliances can amplify impact across continents, creating ripple effects that extend far beyond individual organizational capabilities.
OceanHub Africa, as Africa’s leading enabler of ocean-impact entrepreneurship, has joined forces with Katapult Ocean, a global early-stage ocean tech impact investor, to address the multifaceted challenges of innovating within the ocean space.
Katapult Ocean has invested in 75 countries worldwide, but only 3 in Africa: Keep IT Cool (Kenya), Altan Space (Morocco), and Brayfoil (South Africa) – which is also an alumni of OceanHub Africa. This partnership aims to create more opportunities for investment within the African continent.
“With funding from NORAD (The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation) we have the opportunity to map and screen the African startups ecosystem, and to accelerate and share investment opportunities with a broader network of investors in collaboration with OceanHub Africa.
We want to understand whether:
- Africa is a blind spot for us and if there are companies that we could invest in, or
- The companies in general are too early for us to invest in and therefore have the need for support to get to a level where they are investment ready.
In addition, we have a hypothesis that the broader investor’s knowledge about the investment opportunities in African ocean startups is quite limited, although we see a growing interest in ocean investments globally.
We want to share the knowledge we get through this project to attract and expand the ecosystem of investors that find promising investment opportunities in ocean companies across Africa.” – Ingrid Maurstad, Impact Director, Katapult Ocean
By combining OHA’s acceleration methodology with Katapult Ocean’s investment acumen, the partnership addresses a critical gap in the ocean innovation ecosystem—connecting promising African ventures with the resources, expertise, and capital needed to achieve meaningful impact.
Cultivating Ocean Entrepreneurship: Investment and Impact
Entrepreneurship is one of our most powerful tools for addressing ocean challenges.
Within the context of the Blue Economy, and more specifically in Africa, the journey from science to business is particularly challenging. A significant gap exists between scientific innovation and commercial viability – a gap this partnership is actively working to bridge.
Katapult Ocean’s investment approach focuses on clean energy, transportation, food and water, and circular resources. Their strategic goal involves identifying promising ocean startups, accelerating them, and ultimately, investing in them.
This aligns perfectly with OHA’s mission to nurture African ocean entrepreneurs through critical development stages.
The collaboration acknowledges the unique investment challenges in Africa. These include:
- Company incorporation processes: Many African countries have bureaucratic hurdles that make it difficult for startups to formally register and scale. The regulatory landscapes vary widely, requiring tailored legal and financial support.
- Intellectual property protection: The lack of clear continental and/our subregional legal frameworks, high costs of patenting in several countries, and weak enforcement mechanisms make it difficult for startups to protect their intellectual assets.
- The need for specialized financial mechanisms: Traditional debt and equity models may not be suitable for startups in emerging ocean industries. Alternative financing approaches, such as blended finance, revenue-based financing and impact-linked loans, are crucial to bridging this gap.
By leveraging our combined expertise, OHA and KO are developing innovative and tailored approaches to address these challenges, while maintaining sound investment principles.
“ We’ve known OceanHub Africa for years through our common engagement in the 1000 Ocean Startups coalition.
With the climate challenges we’re facing and the lack of financing of Ocean innovation, especially in Africa, we’re dependent on collaboration. Their knowledge and networks are essential for a successful project.
If we together can contribute to more investments in Ocean companies in Africa, we derisk companies, build our own pipeline of investable companies, and scale more sustainable solutions that the world needs.” – Ingrid Maurstad, Impact Director, Katapult Ocean
From Ideation to Impact: OHA’s Comprehensive Blue Economy Accelerator
At the heart of this partnership lies OHA’s comprehensive acceleration program. Recognized by the Global Startup Awards as the best Acceleration Program in Africa in 2024, we have provided support to 40 startups since 2020. As a result, a cumulative amount of 15.5 million USD has been raised to date.
“The greatest challenge isn’t a lack of innovation. it’s making sure African ocean startups gain the visibility, investment, and tailored support they need to scale. Through our partnership with Katapult Ocean, we are creating vital connections between local entrepreneurs and the global ecosystem, ensuring these ventures don’t just navigate challenges but are positioned to thrive on an international stage.” – Thando Mazomba, Venture Development Lead, OceanHub Africa
This partnership will support 60 of Africa’s most promising impact-driven, ocean-focused startups over 3 years through a holistic and comprehensive approach designed to address the unique challenges of establishing for-profit ocean solutions in the African context.
The OceanHub Africa program provides:
- Hands-on support to accelerate growth, including customer acquisition, executing Proof of Concept, and scaling businesses through commercial contracts and fundraising, provided by a team of entrepreneurs in residence and mentors.
- Access to a global ocean-impact ecosystem to network with leading ocean experts, mentors, self-development coaches, alumni, impact investors, corporate partners and potential clients and collaborators.
- Engagement with like-minded entrepreneurs within the Blue Economy space in Africa and abroad.
- A hybrid-format program that blends a one-week in-person bootcamp, in-person participation in the annual Ocean Innovation Africa Summit, and remote business and personal development coaching sessions.
Katapult Ocean is enriching this offering by connecting participants with international best practices, investor perspectives, and potential pathways to global markets. This combination of local expertise and global connections is establishing a powerful ecosystem for nurturing ocean innovations.
Regenerative Ocean Week 2025: Advancing Collaboration in Africa
Last year, Ocean Innovation Africa hosted Regenerative Ocean Week (ROW) in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, a country at the forefront of the African Blue Economy, and responsible for 90% of the continent’s seaweed production.
At ROW, the OHA-Katapult consortium held its first official session, bringing together members of the global ocean-impact ecosystem, including entrepreneurs, investors, industry experts and funding partners.This gathering marked a key step in strengthening collaboration to accelerate ocean innovation in Africa.
A highlight of the event was the NORAD-sponsored Blue Entrepreneurship Consortium meeting, where OHA and Katapult Ocean facilitated a strategic discussion with other NORAD-supported entrepreneurship support organizations to design practical strategies for pipeline sharing, collaborative startup support, and co-investment frameworks.This initiative directly tackles systemic barriers to scaling ocean-impact solutions in Africa, ensuring support from ideation to growth.
This effort aligns with 1,000 Ocean Startups’ current initiative to establish regional working groups, including dedicated focus areas for Africa and Asia, ensuring tailored support for ocean entrepreneurs worldwide. The inaugural session at ROW was a critical milestone in this movement, reinforcing a collective commitment to unlocking synergies and accelerating the growth of a regenerative Blue Economy in Africa.
“Katapult Ocean has been a model for OceanHub Africa since our inception. Their approach to ocean impact investing and acceleration has set a benchmark for what’s possible. Working more closely with them not only strengthens our ability to support African ocean entrepreneurs but also helps us refine a model that positions us as their equivalent in Africa, tailored to the unique opportunities and challenges of our region and the broader Global South.” – Herland Cerveaux, Managing Director, OceanHub Africa
