Quartermaster lands $43M Series A to scale maritime intelligence network

Arlington-based maritime data analytics startup Quartermaster has raised $43 million in a Series A round to expand its distributed ocean intelligence network. The company, led by founder Neil Sobin, develops SmartMast, an onboard sensing and edge computing system that turns commercial vessels into real-time data collection nodes for ship tracking and maritime awareness. The funding will be used to extend the SmartMast sensor footprint into new regions and vessel classes, and to grow the firm’s engineering, product, and go-to-market teams.

The Series A round was co-led by First Round Capital and Quiet Capital, with additional participation from TMV Logistics, Steel Atlas, BoxGroup, Operator Partners, Shorewind Capital, and David Adelman. Quartermaster’s network already covers more than 10 million square miles of ocean and operates across hundreds of vessels in dozens of countries, supplying data and analytics to insurers, logistics providers, and maritime agencies. The company positions its platform as an infrastructure layer for maritime intelligence and autonomy applications, aiming to improve ship identification, safety, and operational visibility in a sector still heavily reliant on legacy tracking technologies.