#91 - Venture Spotlight: Ozeaon

I first came across OZEAON during the 2025 Web Summit in Lisbon, where I had the pleasure to meet Joseph Flynn, the Founder. Among the AI noise of the conference, his project stood out as one of the few mission-led attempts to rethink how education, research, and early-stage environmental ideas find support.

OZEAON is a climate technology platform designed to empower education, accelerate innovation, and restore ecosystems through open science, crowdfunding, and transparency.

Ozeaon is the result of Joseph’s Master’s research on Design for Oceanic Health & Wellbeing, where he mapped a clear need for a digital ecosystem that brings together open educational resources, regenerative project funding, and transparent community governance. The platform is now recognised as a UN Ocean Decade Action, a strong signal that the work aligns with wider Ocean Health priorities.

This spotlight looks at how Ozeaon is building digital infrastructure designed to help people learn, collaborate, and turn regenerative ideas into real-world impact.

Enjoy and get in touch with Joseph! Cool dude

2. The Problem

Ocean disruption and biodiversity loss are accelerating, but the systems meant to support solutions still move slowly. Research exists, passion exists, and early ideas exist, yet the pathways that turn innovation into real-world, commercially viable impact are often broken or missing entirely.

Some gaps Joseph highlighted in his thesis (Flynn, J. F., 2023):

Ocean-related knowledge is scattered and difficult to access

No unified platform combining learning, content sharing, and funding

Existing learning platforms (MOOCs/OERs) are limited in what users can do

Crowdfunding platforms introduce location and currency barriers

Users lack governance control on traditional platforms

Motivated individuals struggle to start projects due to fragmented information

No accessible place that connects research, practical learning, and funding

Innovation slows because learning, collaboration, and funding exist in separate ecosystems

Regenerative projects are in need of:

commercial models

contributor incentives

self-sustaining revenue loops

transparency around where value is created

Without this, even strong ideas struggle to scale beyond early enthusiasm. At a moment when the blue economy needs builders, not just awareness, I believe these gaps hold back progress.

3. The Solution

Ozeaon is building a single, accessible ecosystem where people can learn, collaborate, fund, and build real-world regenerative projects, all in one place. Instead of scattering knowledge and opportunities across dozens of disconnected platforms, Ozeaon brings silos together.

1) Open Science Made Accessible

Ozeaon aims to curate and simplify ocean science, regenerative design, and sustainable innovation.

This includes:

digestible research summaries

educational pathways

DIY tutorials for regenerative materials

community-written articles and field updates

It turns dense academic insight into something people can actually use.

2) A Home for Regenerative Projects

Users can launch or support ecosystem-restoring projects directly on the platform.

Project pages include:

problem definition

transparent budgets

live progress and reporting

discussion and community feedback

3) Integrated Funding Tools

Instead of pushing creators toward external platforms with restrictions, Ozeaon integrates funding in the platform.

This means:

global accessibility (no currency/geography lockouts)

support for small pilots and early proof-of-concept work

transparent tracking of where funds go

incentives for contributors and collaborators

It aims at bridging the gap between “good idea” and “real-world prototype.”

4) Community-Guided Governance

To avoid a top-down tech model, Ozeaon is aiming to shape a transparent governance system where the community influences:

platform direction

content standards

project eligibility

resource priorities

Helping build trust, essential for climate and conservation work.

5) Web3 as Infrastructure, not Hype

The platform uses Celo, a carbon-negative blockchain that offsets more than 100% of its emissions and operates at an energy footprint lower than a single email per transaction.

Used only where it adds value:

transparent records

verifiable contributions

optional token-based incentives

community decision-making

Paired with their emerging AI Ethics Charter, the approach is cautious and mission-aligned to ensure any AI use does not conflict with the regenerative values of the platform.

6) A Pathway for Builders

Ozeaon as a launchpad.

People can:

understand the problem

explore existing solutions

learn practical skills

build their own project

find early supporters

share results back into the community

And they’re encouraged to consider commercial viability and long-term sustainability from the start, something often missing in academic or NGO-style initiatives.

4. The Team, Use Cases & Partnerships

Ozeaon is still early, soon to be launching their MVP. However, they are supported by a small core team and a wider group of external developers, designers, and volunteer advisors, bringing together around 15+ contributors in total.

Joseph Flynn — Founder

Lindomar de Sá Martins — Technical PM / DevOps

Roger Tsikata — Web3 & Strategy

Piera Giordano — AI Ethics & Service Design

Jack Castles-Jones — Full-Stack & AI (Tandem)

Yaroslav Bazhan — Full-Stack Developer (Zentix Soft)

Marta Paulo — Marketing & Social Media

Gianluca Sgobbi — Graphic Design

Nathasja Bons — Sales & Marketing Strategy

Rafael Macedo — UX/UI Design Lead

Ivan Humenuk — Blockchain Developer (Zentix Soft)

Oleg Voytenko — Solution Architect (Zentix Soft)

Uliana Koval — Project Manager (Zentix Soft)

Tandem Creative — Development Partner

Zentix Soft — Development & Blockchain Partner

Advisors & Early Contributors — Volunteer Support

A legitimacy marker is Ozeaon’s endorsement as a UN Ocean Decade Action (10.7), a great signal that the platform aligns with global priorities around ocean knowledge, ecosystem recovery, and community-driven innovation.

The team is also developing an AI & Sustainability Ethics Charter, ensuring that any use of AI or blockchain aligns with their environmental values and avoids unnecessary energy or water use. It’s a thoughtful approach for a project trying to model regenerative principles from the ground up.

Use Cases

Here are a few of the clearest ways it can be used:

Regenerative Ocean Projects: A hub for launching or supporting seaweed farms, coral restoration pilots, microplastic recovery, or sustainable aquaculture initiatives, with transparent progress updates and community involvement.

Land-Based Regeneration: Tools for soil restoration, circular agriculture, or community-led reforestation, supported by open resources and verifiable reporting.

Decentralised Learning: Accessible, community-curated educational resources, alongside interactive tutorials, AI-assisted summaries, and recognition for contributors.

Open Science & DeSci: A space where researchers can share findings openly, collaborate across disciplines, or seek community funding for early-stage experiments.

5. Future Possibilities

What Ozeaon is building has room to grow into something bigger than a knowledge platform. If they execute well, the foundations could support an entire ecosystem of regenerative innovation.

A few realistic directions stand out:

Smarter, verifiable impact reporting: Integrating ethical, low-footprint AI for project verification, educational enrichment, or DMRV could make impact claims more transparent and trusted.

A global pipeline of regenerative projects: From coral restoration to blue carbon to sustainable aquaculture, Ozeaon could become the go-to launchpad for early-stage ecosystem pilots looking for visibility, supporters, and proof-of-concept traction.

Community-led governance and decision-making: As the platform grows, DAO-style voting and transparent decision systems could give contributors real influence over platform priorities, resource allocation, and project eligibility.

A shared economic model for sustainability: With the right incentives, Ozeaon could enable new forms of collaborative economics, rewarding education, verified contributions, and project-building in ways that help ventures become financially self-sustaining.

A hub for applied learning and experimentation: By blending open science with real-world projects, Ozeaon can become a space where students, coastal communities, innovators, and practitioners actually build things together, not just read about them.

Ultimately, Ozeaon’s potential lies in connecting the dots:

Education → collaboration → action → measurable impact → long-term viability.

Concluding Remarks

Ozeaon is still early, but the idea seems promising on the way it brings learning, funding, and community governance into one place. If you’re working on regenerative projects, studying this space, or just curious about how tech can support environmental action, it’s worth keeping an eye on what Joseph and the team are building.

If you’d like an intro, want to explore the platform, or just want to swap ideas, feel free to reach out to Joseph!

God speed!

OTI - H

References:

Flynn, J. F. (2023). Design for Oceanic Health & Wellbeing Through Sustainable Practices: An Online Platform for Educational Content Creation and Incentivising Innovation, Driven by Open Science and Blockchain Technology (Master's thesis, Instituto Politecnico de Leiria (Portugal)).