Schulte targets maritime start-ups with new venture capital fundSchulte targets maritime start-ups with new venture capital fund

Innoport is a dedicated venture capital team headed by Yiannis Sykas, director of strategy and product development for Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) with a presence in Hamburg, Limassol and Singapore.

It aims to support early-stage start-ups in the maritime and logistics sectors, mainly in Europe and Asia and could offer not just funding but also potential pilot projects within BSM, sales-partnerships and technical cooperation. The start-ups are likely to be in the pre-revenue stage with an idea or prototype.

“We want to see founders, who actively challenge the status quo of how the maritime industry works, to make it better, safer and more efficient,” said Haymon Sinapius, Innoport’s investment manager for Asia.

Innoport sees its focus and knowledge of the maritime sector in which it is looking to invest as giving it an edge over other venture capital firms.

“At Innoport, we see ourselves as a provider of capital with industry domain knowledge coupled with access to the right people within our Organisation and our network to support the portfolio companies we invest in”, said Niklas Koerner, Innoport’s investment manager for Europe.