The maritime industry is experiencing a technological paradox. While autonomous vehicles are collecting more data than ever before, the systems required to synthesize that information for real-world operations have lagged behind.
It was this specific gap between hardware capability and operational utility that inspired co-founders Victoria Price-Doucet and Maurice Doucet to launch StrateSea Technology.
In this founder spotlight, Victoria shares her journey of building StrateSea, the unique challenges of the subsea market, and the future of autonomous operations.
What inspired you to start StrateSea Technology?
StrateSea grew out of the intersection of my career in oceanography, AI, and building technology inside large organizations. I had spent years working with complex sensor data and later leading teams focused on making advanced analytics useful and accessible to real users.
Maurice brought a different but highly complementary perspective: decades of experience turning incredibly complex technology into intuitive, mass-market software that everyday people could actually use.
During our time in the subsea market, we saw that promising AI work was happening within specialized data science teams, but very little of it was becoming a usable, operational capability.
Without deep domain knowledge, accessible workflows, and software designed around how operators actually work, even the best model is of limited value.
We realized that our combined experience put us in a unique position to bridge that gap.
What began as a question of “how do we make this technology usable by everyday operators?” quickly became a much larger vision for bringing adaptable intelligence to subsea operations and autonomy.
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Was there a specific problem in the maritime industry that made you think, “this has to be solved”?
We were seeing the rise in autonomous vehicles and the amount of data they were producing. There was so much emphasis on developing autonomous vehicles with longer range and longer duration.
These were all things that would result in more data being collected (otherwise, why are these vehicles being used?), but nobody was talking about what would happen to all that data and who, in a limited workforce, would make sense of it.
We were very early on articulating a problem that the operators in the field were saying, but the vehicle manufacturers (and investment community around them) weren’t hearing.
For example, autonomous vehicles are being used for Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) clearance. They go out and collect a lot of data, but that data still has to be manually analyzed after the mission to locate and identify those threats. This results in a significant delay before any decisions can be made regarding the neutralization of those UXOs.
All that time means assets and potentially lives are at risk for longer. We saw both the need and the opportunity to significantly reduce the required time.
What makes FeatureLab different from other AI tools?
FeatureLab is differentiated by its focus. We’re not building a horizontal AI assistant; we’re using purpose-built computer vision to solve a specific, valuable problem.
That allows us to optimize the entire product around the customer’s workflow, the relevant data, and a measurable outcome. The model is only one component of the product, and not the most important one.
Our real differentiation comes from combining specialized data and domain knowledge with an intuitive, genuinely useful workflow. We’ve designed the entire experience around how customers work, so the technology produces a clear, measurable outcome rather than simply an interesting output.
StrateSea was also selected by NATO’s Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) to join the 2026 Challenge Program, becoming one of 150 companies chosen from over 3,600 applicants across 24 NATO nations.
The DIANA program has been instrumental to our success to date, including developing deep relationships and support with the NATO Naval Mine Warfare Center of Excellence and working with 8 allied navies.
What have been the biggest challenges in building StrateSea?
One of the biggest challenges has been being early in a market that is now moving very quickly.
Customers increasingly recognize that existing approaches cannot keep pace with the volume and complexity of sensor data. Also, procurement systems and budget cycles have not kept pace with this recognition.
In many cases, the need is clear, and the operational interest is strong. However, relevant budgets were set well before the requirement became urgent. That has created significant momentum, but not always a straightforward path to purchase.
We’ve had to be creative about pilots, partnerships, and procurement pathways while continuing to demonstrate measurable operational value.
We’re also building software in an industry historically centered on hardware, so part of our work has been demonstrating that software is not an add-on; it is increasingly where real mission value is created.
Describe a customer’s initial challenge and how StrateSea’s technology provided a solution.
One of our allied Navy customers is a team responsible for mapping the seabed along routes used by Naval assets to identify potential hazards, obstructions, and threats.
Previously, they would survey for 12 hours, then spend 12 hours manually combing through the data to identify potential targets.
This not only imposes a tremendous burden on operators but also entails high logistical and operational costs: ship time can cost nearly $100,000 per day. It also means there is a significant risk of potential hazards such as Unexploded Ordnance (UXO).
When their team started using FeatureLab, that 12-hour process was reduced to <30 minutes, including human review. FeatureLab enables them to make hazard clearance decisions more than 90% faster. They can also perform continuous survey operations rather than pausing for significant periods to complete analysis.
What have you learned about the autonomous subsea operations market that surprised you most?
What has surprised me most is how creative this market can be once people see what the technology makes possible.
In an industry often described as slow-moving, we’ve had countless conversations that start with, “Could you use this for…?” followed by an application we had never considered, and the answer is often “yes.”
That is largely because FeatureLab is not built around a single model or narrowly defined use case. We’ve focused on making applied AI accessible and adaptable for operators, so customers can use their own data to solve mission-specific problems.
One of our favorite examples came from an allied Air Force unit that asked whether FeatureLab could analyze spectrograms of helicopter rotor recordings and alert maintainers when the sound began to deviate from the expected pattern, which is a potential predictive-maintenance application.
Moments like that have shown us that when you put adaptable technology in the hands of domain experts, they often see possibilities far beyond the original use case.
How do you prove to skeptical operators that FeatureLab is trustworthy?
We don’t believe operators should be asked to trust AI as a black box. Trust has to be earned through transparency, evidence and control.
FeatureLab gives users full visibility into model performance, the data used for training, and who trained each model and when.
We’re also building advanced explainability features so operators can better understand why a target received a particular classification.
That is very different from many legacy products in this space, where operators had no control over the model and little insight into how well it actually worked.
With FeatureLab, the operator stays in the loop, validates the output against their own expertise, and can adapt the system as the mission, environment, or threat changes.
What makes Elevate Capital the right VC partner?
Elevate stood out because they were willing to look beyond the usual venture pattern. We are experienced founders solving a specialized, technically complex problem, and our path does not look like the stereotypical startup story.
Rather than seeing that as a drawback, Elevate understood the value of deep domain expertise, lived industry experience, and a team that had already spent years leading, building, and operating in complex environments.
Beyond the funding, the mentorship has been substantial. Elevate has given us access to formal guidance, practical resources, and a strong community, but the informal support has been just as important.
I know that when I need help, perspective, or simply an honest sounding board, I can call Ben Nahir, Elevate Capital Partner. He will listen, challenge my thinking when necessary, and help me work through the decision. That level of genuine partnership is difficult to quantify, but it has meant a great deal.
Where do you want StrateSea Technology to be in three years?
I want StrateSea to be the default sensing-autonomy partner for the subsea industry, with our technology expanding into other operational domains.
Autonomous vehicles already have highly capable systems that manage navigation, propulsion, communications, and basic vehicle health.
Think of these systems as the central nervous system: they keep the vehicle alive and functioning. But they do not necessarily give it the ability to understand its surroundings, determine what is important, or adapt its behavior as the mission changes.
That intelligence layer is where we believe the next major revolution in autonomy will happen.
Our goal is for FeatureLab to become the “brain” that connects sensor data to real-time understanding and decision-making across vehicles, sensors, and mission systems. Systems that interpret data, learn from it, and respond intelligently.
What would you tell other underrepresented founders considering taking the leap into a niche hard-tech market?
Never underestimate the value of your lived experience, domain expertise, or unconventional path.
In niche hard-tech markets, credibility often comes from a deep understanding of the problem, not from fitting the traditional image of a startup founder.
You may have to explain the market, the technology, and why you are the right person to build it all. But this can also be an advantage, as you often see opportunities others have overlooked.
Stay close to customers, keep learning, and find people who respect both the problem you are solving and the expertise you bring to it.
➔ Learn more about StrateSea Technology
StrateSea Technology is a portfolio company funded through the Oregon SSBCI Venture Direct Program, which is managed by Elevate Capital. Images provided by StrateSea.
