Calcarea captures crown at The Captain’s Table

Calcarea has taken top honours at this year’s edition of The Captain’s Table, the maritime startup pitch competition held during Hong Kong Maritime Week and broadcast by Splash. The decarbonisation-focused company impressed judges with a shipboard carbon-capture concept that turns CO₂ into bicarbonate ions while vessels are underway.

The startup’s system uses accelerated limestone weathering inside custom-built reactors, developed from more than a decade of research at Caltech and USC. Limestone is loaded in port and reacts with exhaust CO₂ at sea, creating a stable form of carbon stored as bicarbonate in the ocean. Crucially, the process removes the need for ships to offload captured carbon ashore – a key operational hurdle for most onboard carbon-capture proposals.

The Captain’s Table is one of the industry’s most recognised pitch platforms for maritime and logistics startups. Finalists present to a panel of senior industry figures and investors, who assess business potential, scalability and sector impact.

This year’s finalists included three decarbonisation entries – BioBright, Calcarea and Enki Marine – as well as corrosion-management specialist qualiTEAS, safety technology firm Zeal, and route-optimisation provider Amphitrite. BioBright also secured the public vote for its algae-based system that helps ports monitor air and water quality, detect emissions, and identify oil spills, while potentially cutting regulatory penalties by over $1m per port each year.

As winner, Calcarea receives $30,000 in prize funding plus £25,000 in legal services from long-time partner HFW. The finalists will also be considered for up to $50,000 in follow-on investment from Portline Group.

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