Schulte Launches VC Fund for Maritime

Germany’s Schulte Group has launched a venture capital unit - INNOPORT - to identify investment opportunities in the global maritime start-up eco-system.

The INNOPORT team, based in Hamburg, Limassol and Singapore, is headed by Yiannis Sykas, Director of Strategy and Product Development at Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM).

INNOPORT will support high-potential early-stage maritime and logistics startups predominantly in Europe and Asia, with the flexibility to collaborate with startups from all geographic areas.

“At INNOPORT, we want to build bridges and open doors wherever possible. In essence, INNOPORT provides startups with the right network and the right capital, to scale up their business and to bring their ideas into fruition”, said Yiannis Sykas.

“INNOPORT was founded to support early-stage ventures, typically pre-revenue companies at the idea or prototype stage. We invest in breakthrough technology and disruptive business models that address a real pain and have the potential to define new standards in their respective industries. 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.

Ship owner and manager Schulte Group owns 90 and manages over 600 vessels globally.