Ivan Francis is a Durham founder with a dream: for humans to live underwater in habitats designed by his latest local startup, Argoneta.

Argoneta is one of a handful of so-called “blue tech” companies in the Durham and greater Triangle area. These companies focus on developing sustainable ocean-oriented technology even though the ocean is 130 miles away.

“There are three companies trying to pursue this now, and two out of the three are based in the Research Triangle,” Francis said. “In some ways, the Research Triangle might be the underwater habitat capital of the world.”

From underwater habitats at Argoneta to climate resilience solutions at Natrx, these companies base themselves in the Triangle area because of the abundant talent pipeline and funding opportunities available. 

Argoneta is one of the newest startups to enter the Triangle blue tech scene. Founded in 2022, it currently has about $13,000 in funding, with the majority of that money coming from an NC IDEA microgrant from the NC Biotechnology Center.

Argoneta isn’t Francis’s first crack at a business. He works as a mechanical engineer and vice president of Vontier — a $3 billion mobility tech company based in Raleigh. His connections in the engineering industry combined with his personal dedication to the project make him hopeful that Argoneta can secure regulatory approval for its habitats by the first quarter of 2026.

“We’ll finish designing, building and testing our first full-size prototype for our first product by the end of April,” Francis said. “We will then kick off our fundraising in April throughout the summer.”

Natrx, also based in Raleigh, developed an “adaptive infrastructure” that monitors environmental challenges, aiming to restore balance between the “built and natural worlds.”

The Natrx website says more than 50% of the global population, along with $100 trillion in assets, are at risk from natural dangers like erosion, rising sea levels, storm surge and more.

Natrx focuses “on nature-based solutions to assist with coastal resilience, including artificial reefs and living shorelines,” according to Oceans@Duke Program Development Chair Natalie Holsclaw.

The list doesn’t end here. A few other blue tech companies based in the Research Triangle include:

• Arcadis — sustainable engineering consultant with offices in Durham and Cary.
• Moffatt & Nichol — infrastructure advisor serving clients in the marine terminal and energy markets with an office in Raleigh.
• Windlift — off-shore wind energy company based in Durham.
• University-born startups: WaveSafe Maritime Solutions, Seagull Sustainability and Fathom Science

Why the Triangle region?

The answer lies in the region’s reputation as a “STEM-based research powerhouse,” according to Chris Osburn, a professor in NC State’s Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences program and director of the Blue Economy Innovation Program (BEIP).

At NC State, Osburn founded BEIP in August 2020 to foster innovation within the blue tech community and connect students with startups in the industry. So far, Osburn has helped students secure internships with coastal stakeholder organizations and lead award-winning ventures.

Currently, Osburn is overseeing the student-led ventures WaveSafe Maritime Solutions and Seagull Sustainability.

“Climate change is dramatically impacting the livelihoods of North Carolinians statewide and coastal communities and their economies can benefit from innovations afforded by blue tech,” Osburn said.

But NC State isn’t the only area university encouraging students to explore the blue tech industry. Just down the road in Durham, Holsclaw, a master’s of environmental management candidate, organized and led the inaugural Blue Tech Career Trek through the Oceans@Duke program — an interdisciplinary program where scholars explore sustainable use of the ocean.

During the trek to Boston in March, 14 students had the opportunity to network with companies like Nortek and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

“There is quite a lot of interest in blue tech careers at Duke in both graduate and undergraduate students,” Holsclaw said. “For our career trek specifically, we had more applicants than we had spots available.”

Oceans@Duke also hosts a Blue Economy Summit, focusing on ocean careers and innovation in blue tech.

UNC Chapel Hill’s Institute for the Environment hosts an annual Cleantech Summit, which has historically invited blue tech innovators as panelists. Previously, the summit has hosted blue tech investor Mark Huang, who talked about his venture capital firm SeaAhead.

SeaAhead invests solely in startups that advance sustainable use of the oceans. While the firm is based in Cambridge, MA, Huang works in the Raleigh-Durham area which has led to the firm’s investments in Triangle blue tech companies like Natrx.

Huang said this investment was a part of the firm’s Blue Angel Program, helping to advance the innovation of sustainable blue tech companies.

Future of Triangle Blue Tech?

SeaAhead’s website outlines some projected statistics about the future of the blue tech economy:

• $3 trillion: The expected valuation of the “blue economy” by 2030.
• 40 million: The amount of full-time jobs supported by the blue economy in 2030.
• 91%: The increase in the number of impact-driven ocean startups.

All of this points to why Francis said he thinks blue tech in the region will only continue to grow.

“In the Research Triangle area, there are some efforts to possibly set up a blue tech hub here in the state of North Carolina,” Francis said.

But blue tech innovators like Osburn and Huang emphasized that while the Triangle has become a successful region for ocean-oriented startups, this does not negate the importance of having connections in coastal cities.

“Many of us in blue tech have strong connections to the coastal cities such as Elizabeth City, Morehead City and Wilmington, so it’s quite easy to be centered in the Triangle and then take innovations for testing and trial at the coast,” Osburn said. “So it really isn’t a choice of one over the other, but rather realizing the strengths of our state and the collaborative spirit that makes any location great for blue tech.”

Huang echoed Osburn’s statement saying the coast and Triangle are not in blue tech competition.

“[These] ecosystems are conceptually complementary to each other,” Huang said.