Spanish wind-assisted system developer bound4blue has successfully secured $44 million in funding. The company plans to allocate the capital toward expanding its suction sail production capacity and increasing R&D investments, accelerating the large-scale commercialization of this technology.
bound4blue announced that this round of investment was co-led by OCTAVE Capital, the investment platform under shipowner IMC, and Katapult Ocean. Investors include shipping companies, shipping family offices, climate investors and government funds.
New investors include Motion Ventures and the ReOcean Fund, jointly managed by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and Monaco Asset Management. Existing investors such as Shift4Good and KAI Capital have made additional investments.
May Liew, CEO of OCTAVE Capital, stated: “We invested in bound4blue because wind propulsion systems have evolved from promising innovative technologies into mature, scalable climate infrastructure. While fuel transition is critical for the shipping industry, its widespread adoption will take years. This technology delivers the tangible, effective carbon reduction solutions needed today.”
To meet the growing demands of the shipping industry, bound4blue is preparing to expand its production facilities to achieve a capacity of hundreds of sails per year. bound4blue’s wind-powered propulsion system, named “eSAILs”, utilizes the additional thrust generated by wind energy to reduce ship engine load, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Third-party verified data indicates that the technology has already achieved daily fuel savings of 1.7 tons on the cargo vessel “Ville de Bordeaux”, with a peak daily saving of 5.4 tons.
Data shows that on Odfjell’s vessel “Bow Olympus”, the system reduced the vessel’s average fuel consumption by 15% to 20%, with some transatlantic routes achieving fuel savings as high as 40%.
bound4blue has installed eSAILs systems on seven vessels to date and has received orders for an additional 12 vessels. Upon completion of all deliveries, bound4blue will have delivered over 50 sets of wind sails cumulatively. Its customers include Maersk Tankers, Odfjell, Orient Pacific Shipping, BW Epic Kosan and Klaveness Combination Carriers.
José Miguel Bermúdez, CEO and co-founder of bound4blue, said: “This funding round marks a new phase for the company. The earlier phase focused on technology validation and effectiveness evaluation; this new funding further solidifies the long-term support of our existing investors. These investors have a deep understanding of the shipping industry, share our industry vision, and recognize that this technology will play a key role throughout the fleet.”
bound4blue projects that its technology will achieve annual carbon dioxide emissions reductions exceeding 400,000 metric tons by 2027. Between 2024 and 2027, cumulative emissions reductions are projected to surpass 570,000 metric tons. These figures are calculated based on the company’s parallel production lines deployed in Spain and China.
As the 2030 regulatory deadline approaches, industry participants are accelerating the implementation of energy efficiency enhancement solutions for existing vessels. Bound4blue’s suction sail can be deployed as a retrofit solution for existing vessels or integrated into new vessel designs.
bound4blue indicates that the current multi-layered regulatory framework—including the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII), Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEXI/EEDI), the EU’s FuelEU Maritime policy, and the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS)—is providing incentives for shipping operators to adopt emission reduction and efficiency enhancement solutions.