OCTAVE Capital, the rebranded entity of Heritas Capital, has partnered with Norway’s Katapult Ocean to roll out a $75-million vehicle that will back early-stage ventures tackling climate and sustainability risks in Asia-Pacific’s ocean sector.
The Asia Ocean Fund—a co-GP fund—is among the first and largest ocean-focused funds in the region, targeting areas such as maritime decarbonisation, ocean renewable energy, green shipping infrastructure, biodiversity restoration, circular resources, and sustainable aquaculture, per a company statement. It plans to make more than 20 investments over the next five years, with its first accelerator set to launch in the first half of 2026.
The fresh partnership will combine Octave’s impact investing and regional expertise with Katapult’s track record as the world’s most active ocean impact VC, having backed over 80 startups across 25+ countries since 2018.
“Asia is at the frontline of both challenges and opportunities. By channelling capital into ocean solutions here, investors can unlock growth while tackling urgent environmental and social needs,” said May Liew, CEO of OCTAVE Capital.
Liew joined the firm in March this year after spending about four years as director at GenZero before Heritas announced the makeover last month.
The fund was introduced at Impact Week 2025 in Singapore, marked by a memorandum of understanding signed on Sept 18. The new vehicle, which will commence its capital-raising effort on Thursday, has already been in conversations with foundations, family offices, and non-profit organisations within its ecosystem, Liew told DealStreetAsia.
“25% of the fund will go into the accelerator … to be able to help very early-stage companies, provide them with catalytic capital and help them build a business model for their products,” he added.
The accelerator programme will welcome startups from seed to pre-seed stages, and the fund will make follow-on investments in startups in their Series A to Series B rounds.
Startups that will receive funding from the fund would look similar to Octave’s existing portfolio BeeX, a Singaporean startup that builds autonomous underwater vehicles and robots for shallow waters to reduce needs for human divers in dangerous tasks in the ocean. The company received a seed funding round from IMC Ventures (now under Octave), formerly the CVC arm of shipping group TPC, CapVista, ShipsFocus-Quest Ventures, SEEDS Capital, and the National University of Singapore in 2021.
Asia accounts for the bulk of global seafood production and two-thirds of maritime trade but faces rising climate threats that put food security and livelihoods at risk, the statement said. While funding for ocean startups in the region doubled to $400 million between 2020 and 2024, it lags far behind peers in the US which drew more than $800 million in 2024 alone.
“Asia’s blue economy holds immense promise, but what’s been missing is the bridge between innovation and capital,” said Jonas Skattum Svegaarden, CEO of Katapult Ocean. ‘The Asia Ocean fund is that bridge—de-risking early-stage ventures, attracting broader investment, and empowering entrepreneurs and the Asian ecosystem to drive the global transition towards a thriving ocean economy.”
The Heritas makeover
Heritas, one of Singapore’s oldest venture capital fund managers, is backed by Tsao Pao Chee, a local shipping group helmed by Frederick Tsao, a member of the fourth generation of one of Singapore’s richest families. The rebranding came almost a year after the family’s core business IMC Pan Asia Alliance unveiled a historic rebrand as Tsao Pao Chee.
Octave’s new CEO said that the rebranding of the venture arm comes as the firm is looking to realign its focus on impact investments and to broaden its investment focus. “We are also broadening our mandate to also invest into energy transition, climate solutions, and sustainable food,” Liew said.
Octave is now investing in the six core impact pillars that span the essential systems of the well-being economy: well-being (healthcare and education); climate & nature; energy transition; food systems; circular economy; and human construct (including built environment, construction, and green shipping).
The firm is concurrently managing seven funds in its portfolios, of which three are still actively deploying.
Its most recent liquidity event was an exit from its majority stake in Timberland Medical Centre, in a sale to IHH Healthcare that reaped 3x returns prior to the rebrand last year.
