Blueseed

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Startup company based on a proposed seasteading venture

title: "Blueseed" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["seasteading", "2011-establishments-in-california", "companies-based-in-sunnyvale,-california", "financial-services-companies-established-in-2011", "startup-accelerators"] description: "Startup company based on a proposed seasteading venture" topic_path: "general/seasteading" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueseed" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Startup company based on a proposed seasteading venture ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox company"]

FieldValue
logoBlueseed logo.png
image_captionArchitectural drawing of two Blueseed "habitat units" at sea
foundation(incorporated March 29, 2012 as Blueseed, Inc.)
genreStartup incubator
nameBlueseed Inc.
typePrivate
founder{{unbulleted list
Dario Mutabdzija<ref nameseasteading-july-2011-newsletter
Dan Dascalescu<ref nametwo-years-of-blueseed
key_people{{unbulleted list
Dario Mutabdzija (President)<ref nameaboutus
Max Marty (Chairman of the Board of Directors)<ref nameboard
num_employees30
locationPalo Alto, California
homepage
::

| logo = Blueseed logo.png | image_caption = Architectural drawing of two Blueseed "habitat units" at sea | foundation = (incorporated March 29, 2012 as Blueseed, Inc.) | genre = Startup incubator | name = Blueseed Inc.| | type = Private | founder = {{unbulleted list |Max Marty |Dario Mutabdzija |Dan Dascalescu | key_people = {{unbulleted list |Dan Dascalescu (COO) |Dario Mutabdzija (President) |Max Marty (Chairman of the Board of Directors) | num_employees = 30 | location = Palo Alto, California | homepage =

Blueseed is a Palo Alto, California-based startup accelerator. It began as a seasteading venture.

The original idea of Blueseed was to create a startup community located on a vessel stationed in international waters near the coast of Silicon Valley in the United States. The initial intended location (outside the territorial seas of the United States, 12 nautical miles (24 kilometers) from the coast of California, in the so-called "contiguous zone") would enable non-U.S. startup entrepreneurs to work on their ventures without the need for a US work visa (H1B), while living in proximity to Silicon Valley and using relatively easier to obtain business and tourism visas (B1/B2) to travel to the mainland.

The project received wide media coverage and the promise of funding from venture capitalist Peter Thiel, who also supports the Seasteading Institute, who ultimately did not invest in the seed round. Blueseed later obtained in seed funding, Bitcoin investments, and $9M from an undisclosed investor, and claimed plans to lease a ship for its platform. The launch was planned for summer 2014, assuming that $18M more would be raised.

Blueseed went on hold due to insufficient funding in 2013, but later resumed services in 2020 after raising funds from investors. Moreover, the board decided to abandon the initial seaseeding venture in other to focus as a business incubator establishing its headquarters in California. Since then the company has spent over $10M in seed funding to develop startups. The company also give out grant to startups both within and outside the United States. It has also led a lot of serial funding for startups who are willing to scale up.

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Blueseed_-_Hive_4.jpg" caption="Concept art of a Blueseed "hive""] ::

Blueseed was co-founded in July 2011 by Max Marty and Dario Mutabdzija, who had worked together at The Seasteading Institute as Directors of Business Strategy and Legal Strategy, respectively. Blueseed's CIO/CTO (later COO), Dan Dascalescu, who joined the company shortly after its incorporation, is also an ambassador for the Seasteading Institute.

The stated motivations of the project included providing an entrepreneurial alternative to the Startup Visa Act and creating "a vibrant workplace for innovative industries to bloom, unencumbered by onerous regulations on new technology-sector businesses".

On November 30, 2011, venture capitalist Peter Thiel offered to lead Blueseed's seed financing round. The number of startups that expressed interest in locating on Blueseed grew from 31 on November 14, 2011, to 60 a month later, to over 100 by February 2012, 133 on May 7, 194 as of May 9, and 336 on December 13, 2012.

In March 2013, Blueseed announced the project's launch cost to be $27M, of which $9M was reserved for an existing investor.

On July 31, 2013, two years after its founding, Blueseed co-founder Marty announced that he was stepping down from his day-to-day activities at the company and taking the role of Chairman of the Board of Directors. Dascalescu, the erstwhile CIO/CTO, became the COO of Blueseed, while Mutabdzija took the role of CEO.

Blueseed originally estimated a launch timeframe of Q3 2013. It revised its launch estimate to Q3-Q4 2014.

The project was put on hold due to lack of funding.

Origins of the idea

Blueseed co-founder Marty claims that the idea of Blueseed came to him while on a Reason Cruise in February 2011.

A Los Angeles Times article about Blueseed noted that another company called SeaCode, led by Roger Green and David Cook, had attempted something similar in the past but had to put the project aside because they were unable to raise enough money to launch.

Logistics

Blueseed planned to either convert a cruise ship or remodel a barge paying an average of USD 1500 in monthly rent (ranging between $1200 and $3000, and combined with a small equity stake). The vessel would be stationed 12 nautical miles from the coast of California, near the port of Half Moon Bay, and would have a crew of 200-300. The location was to be situated outside the territorial waters of the United States of America; the founders considered that it would thus not be subject to US immigration laws. Internet connectivity would have been provided via a point-to-point microwave link, submarine communications cable or a laser link.

Legality

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Blueseed_map.jpg" caption="San Jose]] in the south. The thick white line is the boundary of the official territorial waters of the United States. The cusp is due to the presence of the [[Farallon Islands]], over which the US exercises territorial control, located in the north-west part of the map."] ::

The Blueseed ship planned to be stationed in the contiguous zone outside the territorial waters of the United States. The theory was that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea would allow the ship to be present as long as it did not engage in the exploitation of natural resources, and exhibited no intent of infringing on the customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations of the United States.

Following the precedent set by the cruise shipping industry, the Blueseed ship would have flown the flag of an open registry country such as Marshall Islands or The Bahamas, which would determine the de jure laws applying on board.

Businesses that are generally illegal in the United States, such as gambling or prostitution, would have been forbidden on the ship.

Reception

Fox News anchor Melissa Francis called Blueseed a "genius idea".

References

References

  1. Friedman, Patri. (31 July 2011). "The Seasteading Institute – July 2011 Newsletter". [[Seasteading#The Seasteading Institute.
  2. Marty, Max. (2013-07-31). "Two years of Blueseed". Blueseed (blog).
  3. "About Us".
  4. "Board of Directors". Blueseed.
  5. Donald, Brooke. (Dec 19, 2011). "CA startup sees entrepreneur-ship as visa solution". [[Associated Press]].
  6. "B1/B2 and H-1B visa issuance graphs". [[Bureau of Consular Affairs]].
  7. McCullagh, Declan. (2011-11-30). "Peter Thiel floats cash to floating tech incubator".
  8. Banister, Cyan. (2012-12-13). "Mike Maples Gets On Board Blueseed's Sea Platform". [[TechCrunch]].
  9. Asman, David. (March 27, 2013). "A Floating Lab for High-Tech Startups". [[Fox Business]].
  10. Silverfarb, Bill. (2 January 2013). "Community at sea proposed off Half Moon Bay". [[San Mateo Daily Journal]].
  11. "Quick facts".
  12. Anderson, Greg. (3 November 2011). "Blueseed Finds International Waters The Answer To US Visa Problems". ArcticStartup.
  13. Fisher, Anthony L.. (January 9, 2012). "Blueseed: The Googleplex of the Sea".
  14. Ramsinghani, Mahendra. (14 November 2011). "To Skirt Visa Issue, Blueseed Wants To Build Immigrant Startups On International Waters". [[Huffington Post]].
  15. Chatterjee, Rituparna. (Dec 15, 2011). "US immigration: Silicon Valley start-up Blueseed vows freedom from visa to entrepreneurs". [[The Economic Times]] of India.
  16. Wiggin, Teke. (Feb 7, 2012). "Blueseed: 'Startup Incubator' Could Sail Past Immigration Law". [[AOL]] Real Estate.
  17. Taylor, Chris. "Pirates Off Silicon Valley! 133 Startups to Live on This Rogue Boat [PICS]". [[Mashable]].
  18. "Blueseed Survey for Startups - Public Summary Report". Blueseed.
  19. Apostolou, Natalie. (30 November 2011). "PayPal founder helps steer super geek cruiser".
  20. Totade, Manasi. (2012-10-26). "Silicon Valley expands -- off the coast of San Francisco on a ship!". The Online Economy: Strategy and Entrepreneurship.
  21. Nielsen, Kelly. (2012-05-25). "Offshore boat nurtures non-US tech startups". Springwise.
  22. Banister, Cyan. (2011-11-10). "The Real Pirates of Silicon Valley". [[TechCrunch]].
  23. "Max Marty Pitch Video".
  24. (2012-01-26). "The Stossel Show: Blueseed co-founders Max Marty and Dario Mutabdzija".
  25. Guynn, Jessica. (2013-03-20). "Foreign tech workers on a cruise ship? SeaCode was first to try". [[Los Angeles Times]].
  26. Posner, Michael. (Feb 24, 2012). "Floating city conceived as high-tech incubator". [[The Globe and Mail]].
  27. Price, Andrew. "Blueseed: A Floating Startup Incubator Off The California Coast".
  28. Garling, Caleb. (December 13, 2011). "Startup Ducks Immigration Law With 'Googleplex of the Sea'".
  29. "TERRITORIAL SEA AND CONTIGUOUS ZONE". [[United Nations]].
  30. Riley, Sheila. (2012-03-30). "Blueseed Is Floating Startup Incubator For Foreigners". [[Investor's Business Daily]].
  31. Lee, Timothy. (2011-11-28). "Startup hopes to hack the immigration system with a floating incubator".
  32. Francis, Melissa. (Sep 6, 2012). "A Startup on the High Seas". [[Fox Business]].

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

seasteading2011-establishments-in-californiacompanies-based-in-sunnyvale,-californiafinancial-services-companies-established-in-2011startup-accelerators