Inside Octo Product Development Inc.’s Providence design lab, designers are busy building early versions of technologies that could reshape maritime travel, from all-electric seagliders to fleets of autonomous vessels.
It’s where Regent Craft Inc. and HavocAI Inc., Rhode Island maritime startups that have raised more than $200 million in funding combined, have advanced product development and where other clients are now following suit.
Octo founder Justin Sirotin says the lab’s focus is simple: turn emerging technology into something people can actually use. And it’s a principle that’s helping to put Rhode Island on the map for high-stakes maritime and autonomous tech.
“If you don’t connect the technology to real user needs, you end up with a concept instead of a product,” said Sirotin, whose design and innovation firm works with technology-driven companies across several sectors. “Our job is to make sure what gets built can actually be used.”
There’s huge value in connecting technology to real-world needs, he adds, and the market for bold, hardware-driven innovation is taking notice.
After a two-year slowdown, venture capital accelerated again in 2025, with artificial intelligence startups alone drawing about $192.7 billion – more than half of all VC funding to date – putting total investment on track for its highest level since 2022, according to data from financial data and research platform PitchBook.
“The increasing venture interest in sectors like maritime AI and ocean tech is a massive vote of confidence in this innovation space,” said Dhvani Badwaik, a professor of innovation, entrepreneurship and strategy at the University of Rhode Island. “But more importantly, it’s a reflection of larger global priorities around climate, coastal economies and advanced technologies. Investors are seeing that innovations born here can solve real-world challenges and scale.”
Sirotin believes that investors are paying attention because these are technologies that actually solve problems.
“There’s extreme value in exploring complicated new ideas in a way that actually proves they work,” he said.
Within maritime technology specifically, VC funding for startups has surged, figures show.
Flagship Founders’ Global Maritime Tech Startup Map released in June found that disclosed funding for maritime tech ventures increased by roughly 73% year over year, from about $135 million in 2024 to roughly $234 million in 2025.
“It’s an exciting moment to be helping companies take complex technology from prototype to market,” Sirotin said.
But turning tech concepts into real-world impact isn’t just about capital; it’s also about connections.
Rhode Island has that in abundance, Sirotin says. Octo – in business for more than 15 years – operates in a tight-knit community, with most startups and tech ventures in the state operating within just a few degrees of separation.
“It’s a small ecosystem, but that closeness is also a strength,” he said. “If you want to build a team or find partners, you’re never far from the right people.”
Beyond Octo, Rhode Island has added new infrastructure to support startups. RIHub, founded in 2019, offers mentoring, capital access and incubation across sectors. An expanded partnership with Innovate Newport, formalized in mid-2025, is now bringing that support to the southern part of the state.
Maritime-related sectors – often referred to as the blue economy – have been of particular focus for several years.
“Rhode Island has the geography, the expertise and a concentration of research assets, from URI to ocean tech facilities, that make it an ideal proving ground for maritime innovation,” Badwaik said. “The state’s coastal identity isn’t just symbolic.”
But even in this ecosystem, scaling complex ventures such as maritime technology can be a challenge, Sirotin says.
Growing a tech company often means looking beyond Rhode Island for specialized expertise, he says, something Octo helps companies navigate by bridging hardware and software while connecting them to the right talent.
That ability to integrate both sides of the tech equation is key to this recent wave of innovation for Octo, according to Sirotin.
“Most companies focus on one or the other – hardware or software,” he said. “What we do is bridge both to help create the finished product.”
The lab – located on Sims Avenue – operates less like a traditional startup hub and more like an applied engineering studio, he notes.
It houses full-scale simulators, prototype cockpits and test environments designed to help companies validate both hardware and software long before they reach market. Octo also has an office in Lyon, France.
Engineers, designers and product strategists work side by side in Providence, often building tools – from simulators to interactive demos – that allow founders, customers and investors to experience complex technology firsthand.
“We assess the market, the customer, value proposition and product,” Sirotin said. “You get all that right and companies can scale really fast.”
And it has yielded results for Octo’s clients, according to Sirotin.
HavocAI launched in early 2024 as a small autonomous marine software startup and did early development in Octo’s lab.
Today, it operates more than 30 autonomous vessels for U.S. military customers and closed an $85 million funding round in October.
Meanwhile, Regent Craft went from prototypes of its passenger-carrying seaglider a few years ago to more than 600 orders worth $9 billion. The company is now gearing up for human testing and commercial service.
Octo has also collaborated with the instrumentation firm Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence Inc. in North Kingstown, as well as robotics and hardware startups in Rhode Island and beyond, Sirotin says.
For Sirotin, what’s driving the current innovation wave is not just invention; it’s more about how existing technology is being applied now for everyday use.
“It’s about making sure it actually changes the way people work, travel or interact with technology,” he said. “That’s what makes innovation real.”
(Correction: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized Octo Product Development Inc. employees. Designers work in Octo's lab. There was also a mischaracterization of the relationship between Octo and Regent Craft Inc. and HavocAI Inc. Regent and HavocAI were established when they started work with Octo. Also, Justin Sirotin is the Octo founder.)
