Sea-Flux, a pioneering New Zealand maritime technology company, has successfully closed a seed funding round of nearly NZD$3 million. The investment was led by the Punakaiki Fund, a significant endorsement of Sea-Flux’s innovative platform and its growing impact on the global shipping industry.
This investment follows a period of remarkable growth for the company. In June 2025, Sea-Flux announced it had reached a milestone of 1,000 vessels using its platform. That number has since surged to over 1,300 vessels, representing nearly 9,000 active users to date. In 2024, the company won the Innovation Award for Electronic and Electrical Systems at the European Commercial Marine Awards in Southampton, England.
What’s next for Sea-Flux with this funding
This investment marks a significant milestone in our journey and will enable us to accelerate product innovation via customer-centric R&D that enhances the benefits to our users.
Scale internationally, building on our current traction in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, and India – and expanding even further to empower safer, smarter maritime operations globally.
We will continue to focus our efforts on empowering maritime operations with the future of vessel management. We want to cut through complexity with intuitive tools that create transparency, accountability, and confidence in decision making across the teams.
Crews deserve better than paperwork and scattered information. Operations can be streamlined and digitally connected; meaning reduced risk for seafarers and the environment so they can focus on what they do best.
Why Punakaiki Fund
“Partnering with Punakaiki Fund marks an important milestone,” said Tai Ellis, Founder and CEO of Sea-Flux. “Their track record investing in and scaling SaaS businesses and deep industry expertise will help us move faster and serve our customers better.”
“We didn’t want just any funding, we wanted smart funding, partnering with people who deeply understand what we do, our vision, and what’s at stake for the maritime world,” said Tai. And Cormac McCullough, Punakaiki Fund Investment Manager, proved to be the best to partner with. We couldn’t be happier.”
Lance Wiggs of Punakaiki Fund, added: “We are delighted to be able to help Tai and the team build on their success to date, with Sea-Flux exhibiting many of the traits of some of New Zealand’s great success stories, both on and off the water.”
About Sea-Flux and what we do
Sea-Flux is cloud-based vessel management software built for seafarers, founded by a skipper wanting to cut through complexity and empower crew with streamlined maritime operations. This “all-in-one”, mobile-first app provides unparalleled functionality that reduces risk and cost to commercial vessel operations. We believe compliance should be easier to achieve, and our customers and independent maritime auditors agree – Sea-Flux delivers that outcome.
