Home › News › EcoNavis accelerates growth with UK innovation funding and G..
EcoNavis Solutions, the maritime technology company behind the novel Eco Boss Cap propeller hub, has secured a major investment package and joined a leading accelerator programme as it scales operations to meet growing industry demand for its hydrodynamic efficiency solutions.
The Glasgow-based start-up has been awarded £300,000 in funding through the UK’s Innovate UK ICURe Exploit programme to support the commercialisation of university research. EcoNavis Solutions is a commercial spinout from the University of Strathclyde.
The funding follows EcoNavis Solutions’ successful completion of all stages of the ICURe process, including extensive product testing and validation.
“This is a unique form of funding,” said EcoNavis founder and CEO Dr Batuhan Aktas, “because it reimburses 100% of the costs as we scale, including salaries, exhibitions, customer engagement and business development. It’s a significant endorsement of the commercial potential of our technology.”
Glasgow growth
EcoNavis has also been accepted into the Smart Things Accelerator Centre, a specialist technology scale-up hub in Glasgow. The 18-month programme provides mentoring and support across four structured growth stages. The company now occupies dedicated office space at the centre and has grown its core team, including a Chief Technical Officer, Chief Operating Officer, lead CFD engineer, and an administrative manager.
“The growth in 2025 has been substantial,” said Aktas. “At the start of the year, we were just a couple of people. Now, with funding and structured support in place, we’re putting the right expertise and infrastructure in place to take environmentally and energy-efficient solutions through to large-scale commercial adoption.”
EcoNavis is also awaiting responses to several additional grant applications. These include a £100,000 request to Scottish Enterprise under the Smart Grant scheme and a US$500,000 proposal to the US-based National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to support collaborative trials on offshore crew transfer vessels in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Eco Boss Cap, a hydrodynamic energy-saving device fitted to a ship’s propeller hub cap, is the first of the company’s research-led projects to be brought to market. Under development since 2022, the Eco Boss Cap is designed to improve propulsion efficiency by more than 2%, reduce emissions, and deliver measurable fuel savings across a range of vessel types and speeds.
Explore vessel-specific performance improvement
EcoNavis develops hydrodynamic energy-saving devices tailored to each vessel’s hull, propeller and rudder interaction. To assess whether Eco Boss Cap or an integrated optimisation package may be suitable for your fleet, contact the EcoNavis team.