Schulte Group launches dedicated venture capital unit for maritime
startups
The Schulte Group has launched INNOPORT, a dedicated venture capital unit which
identifies investment opportunities in the global maritime startup ecosystem to equip
entrepreneurs with smart capital.
he INNOPORT team, based in Hamburg, Limassol and Singapore, is headed by
Yiannis Sykas, Director of Strategy and Product Development at Bernhard Schulte
Shipmanagement (BSM).
“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.
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. Potential pilot projects within BSM, sales-partnerships and
technical cooperations are some of the options in which the INNOPORT team acts as
a sparring partner for the startups.
“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.
INNOPORT differentiates itself from conventional venture capitalists in terms of its
investment mandate and its in-house expertise. “Typically, venture capital funds
operate on a broader investment remit and they often lack intimate knowledge of the
industries. 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.
