Climate change threatens ocean health, with marine heat waves damaging tropical coral reefs and ocean acidification posing a danger to shellfish.The Woods Hole partnership involves undisclosed multiyear funding as well as access to emerging research, intellectual property and advanced types of machinery such as the group’s ships and robotic submersibles.
According to Peter de Menocal, president and director of Woods Hole, the Propeller partnership will provide the organization with "risk capital" to support scientists' biggest ideas.De Menocal said it is important to be able to measure and verify any additional oceanic carbon uptake and to know more about how ecosystems will respond.Halligan envisions growing ocean-climate startups into unicorns — the tech-world term for companies with a billion-dollar valuation.
According to Halligan and Julie Pullen, chief scientist and partner at Propeller, companies that may be ripe for investment include those in the ocean carbon space, including ventures that are trying to solve carbon reduction measurement and verification. The fund also aims to invest in ocean organics, which seek to use microbes for energy sources and other applications.I think we're going to have a wave of capital and a wave of talent moving into the industry over the next couple of years," Halligan told Axios.