#94 - CVC in the BE: Maersk Growth Model

Corporate Venture Capital in the Blue Economy

Shipping sits at an uncomfortable crossroads. It underpins global trade, yet it accounts for around 2–3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, operates on long asset lifecycles, and faces tightening regulation with limited near-term technological certainty. Unlike software-heavy sectors, maritime innovation is constrained by capital intensity, safety requirements, and the practical reality that new technologies must work at sea.

When it comes to innovation and regulation, for large operators, waiting for a single “silver bullet” technology is no longer a viable strategy.

This is where corporate venture capital (CVC) starts to play a different role in the blue economy. Rather than chasing financial returns alone, CVC is increasingly used as a way to explore multiple technological pathways in parallel, learning early, de-risking adoption, and shaping future operating models. Few examples illustrate this approach as clearly as Maersk Growth, the corporate venture arm of A.P. Moller–Maersk.

Let's dive in!

What is Maersk Growth?

Maersk Growth is A.P. Moller–Maersk’s global partner for external innovation, set up to “digitise, democratise, and decarbonise” supply chains by investing in and partnering with startups building new business models and technologies. 

A couple of details from Maersk’s own positioning highlight that this isn’t just a side fund, it’s designed as a repeatable operating model that sits alongside the core business.

The headline numbers (from Maersk Growth):

• Founded: 2017 

• Portfolio: 40+ investments to date 

• Focus area (investment): “energy transition investments” aimed predominantly at uncovering the route to net zero supply chains 

What they call “value beyond capital” (their ABCDE):

• Assets — access to Maersk’s asset base (including vessels and terminals) 

• Brand — global reach and credibility 

• Customers — “+100,000 customer base and volumes” 

• Data — access to “rich data covering 20% of global trade” 

• Expertise — “~80,000 employees” worth of operational know-how 

What I find notable here is it isn’t only about placing equity bets. It’s also focussed to pull learning from the startup ecosystem into decision-making through an Insights function (explicitly framed as bringing emerging signals into the “heart” of Maersk’s decision process).

Side note: I wonder how much innovation is going beyond "net-zero"

How the model works

What differentiates Maersk Growth from a conventional corporate VC is the way investment and venture clienting run in parallel. Capital is one lever, but operational collaboration appears to be the faster learning engine.

1) Corporate venture capital (longer-term optionality)

Maersk Growth makes minority investments in startups that align with Maersk’s strategic priorities, particularly around energy transition, logistics efficiency and digital infrastructure.

• Investments are framed around strategic relevance, not control

• The emphasis is on learning and exposure to emerging technologies

• This allows Maersk to place multiple bets across uncertain transition pathways, rather than backing a single solution too early

This seeks to create optionality: Maersk gains early insight into technologies that may (or may not) scale, without forcing acquisition or exclusivity.

2) Venture clienting (near-term operational learning)

Alongside equity, Maersk Growth runs a structured venture clienting programme, designed to work with startups on immediate business obstacles.

This typically involves:

• Clearly defined proof-of-concept (PoC) cycles

• Testing technologies at scale within real Maersk operations

• A focus on practical outcomes: cost, efficiency, visibility, sustainability or risk reduction

From Maersk’s perspective, this accelerates learning faster than pilots run in isolation. From a startup’s perspective, it provides access to real-world conditions that are difficult to replicate elsewhere.

3) Where Maersk focuses its venture clienting efforts

The problem areas Maersk Growth publicly highlights are clustered around core operational pressure points.

Key focus areas include:

• Asset management (e.g. tracking and control of containers and equipment)

• Order and load planning (space utilisation, routing, efficiency)

• Transport planning and visibility across multimodal supply chains

• Advanced visibility from factory to end customer

• Automation of logistics and procurement processes using software and AI

These are not “moonshots”, they’re system bottlenecks that, if improved incrementally, compound across a global network.

4) Why this hybrid model?

Taken together, CVC plus venture clienting allows Maersk Growth to operate on two time horizons at once:

• Short-term: validate tools that improve today’s operations

• Long-term: understand which technologies might underpin future net-zero and digital supply chains

Rather than treating startups as suppliers or acquisition targets, the model aims at positioning them as learning partners, a subtle but important distinction in a capital-heavy, regulation-driven industry like shipping.

What the portfolio signals

Maersk Growth’s portfolio points to an approach to transition, and not so much on a single technology bet. The emphasis is on optionality, operational learning, and system-level change.

1) Fuel transition is treated as a system

A significant share of investment sits around methanol and e-fuels, but across different parts of the value chain:

• Fuel production pathways

• WasteFuel — waste-to-methanol

• Prometheus, Aircela — DAC to e-fuels

• Vertoro, Kvasir — drop-in biofuels

• Fuel conversion & use

• Blue World Technologies — methanol fuel cells

Signal: Maersk is spreading risk across feedstocks, capture methods, and conversion technologies, reflecting uncertainty over cost, scalability, and regulation.

2) Efficiency still matters

Alongside fuels, the portfolio continues to include efficiency and optimisation technologies:

• Wind-assisted propulsion and retrofit solutions

• Routing, port call, and planning optimisation tools

• Software that reduces idle time, fuel burn, and asset underuse

Signal: decarbonisation is not viewed as a clean break from today’s fleet. Incremental gains still compound at scale.

3) Data and visibility as core infrastructure

Several investments sit in the data layer of shipping and logistics:

• Container and shipment tracking APIs

• Supply chain visibility platforms

• AI-driven procurement and negotiation tools

Signal: as regulation tightens, high-quality operational data becomes a strategic asset.

4) Venture clienting favours “plug-in” technologies

Startups highlighted through venture clienting tend to share common traits:

• Deployable within existing operations

• Integrate with current systems

• Deliver measurable outcomes within PoC cycles

Signal: technologies that are interoperable and testable at scale face fewer adoption barriers than those requiring full system replacement.

5) A portfolio built for uncertainty

Across fuels, efficiency, and data, the strategy reflects uncertainty around:

• Which fuels scale fastest

• How quickly regulation bites

• When cost parity is reached

Overall thesis signal: invest early, learn fast, and retain strategic flexibility.

Concluding Remarks

Maersk Growth offers a good example of how corporate venture capital can operate in capital-intensive, regulated sectors like shipping. Rather than chasing headline returns, the model is built around learning, optionality, and deployment readiness across multiple transition pathways.

For founders, the lesson is that strategic CVC is rarely just about capital. The real value sits in access to assets, data, and operational environments, and in building technologies that can integrate into existing systems. Venture clienting, in particular, rewards solutions that are measurable, interoperable, and deployable today.

One side note that stood out while reviewing the portfolio is how much innovation remains framed around net-zero. That focus is understandable given regulatory pressure, but it raises a broader question: how much shipping innovation is being pushed to think beyond net-zero altogether? Beyond fuel substitution and efficiency, there may be space for deeper shifts in how maritime trade is structured and scaled.

Overall, Maersk Growth reflects a pragmatic view of transition. In the blue economy, corporate venture capital appears less about predicting the future and more about learning how to navigate it.

Catch you next week!

OTI

H