Neptune Robotics announces $12M Singapore facility for autonomous ship-hull cleaning
A new Singapore manufacturing and R&D site will support planned growth in robotic hull-cleaning services.
Neptune Robotics announced a US$12 million manufacturing and R&D facility in Singapore on 20 April 2026, intended to support a fivefold increase in local autonomous ship-hull cleaning capacity by the end of the year. The company also set a target of capacity for 60 hulls per day by 2027. The expansion follows its US$52 million Series B, led by Granite Asia in September 2025.
Neptune’s underwater robots remove biofouling from commercial ships while vessels are berthed or anchored. Marine growth increases drag, fuel consumption and emissions, making regular hull cleaning part of shipping maintenance. The company says its robots remove fouling while protecting hull coatings and reduce the need for divers to perform the work.
The Singapore site will manufacture equipment and house R&D focused on computer vision and machine learning for operation in low visibility, strong currents and difficult weather. Neptune reported a presence in 61 ports across Singapore and China and said it had entered Singapore in 2024. The additional cleaning capacity and daily-hull figures remain expansion targets.