Interview: Georgia Kalantzi ⁠and ⁠Vasileios Alexandridis⁠, ⁠AlongRoute. Where AI Meets the Ocean to Optimize Shipping

The interview with ⁠Georgia Kalantzi ⁠and ⁠Vasileios Alexandridis⁠, CEO and CTO of ⁠AlongRoute⁠, a startup from Greece, that is providing AI-enhanced marine weather forecasting to optimize shipping routes and reduce emissions.

You can listen to the episode with Georgia Kalantzi ⁠and ⁠Vasileios Alexandridis on EmpoWomen Podcast:

Or read the interview.

Elevator Pitch

Georgia: Thank you for having us on this podcast. I’m Georgia Kalantzi, the CEO of AlongRoute, a Greek-based startup established in late 2022. With me today is our CTO, Vasileios Alexandridis.

Vasileios: Hi, it’s a pleasure to be here. I’m Vasileios Alexandridis, CTO of AlongRoute. My background is in geomatics and geoinformatics, and I utilize AI tools to provide marine weather forecasts.

Georgia: At AlongRoute, we are trying to solve the uncertainty in marine weather forecasting. We use deep-tech tools to provide marine weather forecasts—specifically, forecasts of oceanographic parameters—with much higher accuracy than existing products. We do this to help specific segments of the maritime industry make better decisions. These segments are very sensitive to the accuracy of these forecasts, as they present immediate opportunities for efficiency, cost reduction, and lower emissions. With our data, we aim to help these segments achieve much higher performance.

What inspired you to tackle such a huge issue?

Georgia: My background is in oceanography. I spent five years of my PhD trying to correct a small source term in traditional forecasting models, which produced a slight increase in accuracy and was considered a big success. However, I, and others in the scientific community, knew that these traditional forecasting models had reached their limits. We see this in meteorology as well; the daily forecasts we get might be correct in a general sense, but they rarely predict the exact timing, location, and magnitude of a phenomenon.

I was observing the progress artificial intelligence was making in many fields and thought, “Why not try to use AI and high-quality data to enhance forecast accuracy?” At first, I wasn’t thinking about the maritime industry specifically, but after being accelerated from the idea stage to a proof-of-concept by a blue-tech accelerator, we realized there was a real market need for this kind of accurate data. That’s how we started.

You can imagine the hassle of carrying both sunglasses and an umbrella. Now, imagine a large ship navigating the ocean, trying to keep fuel and emissions as low as possible while staying safe, and the forecast they receive doesn’t match the conditions the captain observes. This is a significant problem in the maritime industry.

How is your technology different from the forecasts we see on TV?

Georgia: Traditionally, forecasts are created by large computer programs where a physicist or mathematician tries to explain the physical processes that describe the behavior of certain parameters. These are coded and run on supercomputers to calculate each parameter at each grid point of a large area. These models have issues, particularly with the chaotic nature of some processes. As we sometimes say in our pitch, human-applied math and physics cannot capture the micro-correlations between ocean processes, which causes significant uncertainty in existing forecasts.

We are taking a different approach. We’re not trying to solve or model physics. Instead, we gather as much high-quality historical data as possible from various reliable sources like satellites, microsatellites, and buoys. We reconstruct what has happened and what is happening now, and then we train our models to learn the physics of how these processes evolve. This has been proven to work much better than traditional models.

What are the biggest challenges you face in this regard?

Georgia: When you try to align artificial intelligence with physical processes, the biggest challenge is finding the appropriate, high-quality data. Artificial intelligence without good data isn’t that smart and can create chaos instead of quality outcomes. We have the background to know where to get the data, but the biggest challenge is finding the most appropriate AI setup that can correctly learn the physical behaviors.

We’ve built a very demanding R&D pipeline to develop standard models that can take an input and output a 10-day forecast. This is very demanding and requires a lot of resources. For a startup like us, waiting five or six years to produce a product is not feasible. So, our biggest challenge was to find a way to have data that we can pilot with users.

We decided to split our path. We are still following the deep R&D pipeline, but we’ve also created a lighter technical pipeline to produce data products, like 5-10 day forecasts for the whole world, to start piloting with users. This year has been a key moment for us as we’ve started engaging with the industry, getting feedback, and beginning our path toward growth.

Vasileios: Another challenge we managed to overcome was the required resources for training our AI models. You need a lot of computing power to manipulate all this data, train your model, test it, and move to the operational phase. We had the opportunity to work with the EuroHPC network, specifically on the Nostromo supercomputer, where we could train our models for free. This was key for us because our solution doesn’t require daily training processes. By collaborating with this network, we are now able to fine-tune the next version of our AI models. This challenge became an opportunity for us.

How did you bring the team together?

Georgia: It flowed quite naturally. The founders were part of another Greek SME before AlongRoute, where we collaborated on innovation projects. I had this idea about the sea, and I found an opportunity with a blue-tech accelerator called the “Deep Blue Economy Accelerator.” I applied with the idea of using AI to enhance marine weather forecasts. We passed all the phases and got funded to develop a proof-of-concept.

Then, four of us from the original company decided to take a chance and start AlongRoute. It was me, Vasileios, and two more people, Stereos and Apostolia, who supported us with business and financial aspects.

When we were incubated by the European Space Agency’s incubator in Greece, we met Pablo Spazonis, who was interested in doing an industrial thesis with us. He was a master’s student with a physics background who wanted to work with AI and space data. It was a perfect match, and he is now our AI engineer. Very recently, we onboarded another person, Nagia Keli, an Earth observation engineer, as we are actively including Earth observation and space data in our pipelines. We are very happy with the team and how it’s growing with our shared vision.

As a female founder, what challenges do you face? Do you see yourself more as a scientist or a businesswoman?

Georgia: That’s a difficult question. I don’t think about it every day. It’s true that the maritime and shipping industries are very traditional and male-dominated. There might be some challenges for me as a woman CEO trying to sell what we do, but I think of myself as a startup founder trying to make a difference.

Regarding my background, my mind tends to work in a technical and scientific way, but over the last two years, I’ve learned so much about what it means to run a business. Startups are businesses, and businesses are meant to sell and make money to make an impact. Otherwise, it’s a research institute.

Lately, I’m trying to work on my sales skills, which is a huge challenge because I don’t have that background. We are actively engaging with the industry and early adopters because that’s the big bet for us right now. Having as many agreements as we can with early adopters should unlock further growth for us in terms of private investment.

How is it going with acquiring new clients? What is your financial model?

Georgia: At the moment, our sales are funded by grants as we learn how to perform in this field. We had some connections with early adopters in previous years, but we didn’t have a product because we were on a steep and demanding R&D curve.

Last summer, we decided to create a lighter pipeline to have data to test. We started this year and had our first paid pilot with a customer in Greece. It was a three-month pilot that went really well and gave us a lot of confidence. We tested our technical efficiency and data delivery process, which were new to us.

From that point on, we started pursuing more early adopters. We are currently discussing a three-year contract with a paying customer and are in discussions for another paid pilot in Greece.

Interestingly, we’ve found that marine weather data can be applied to numerous applications. We initially targeted the maritime software segment because they handle vessel routing, which is crucial for safety, fuel reduction, and emission cuts. Their main pain point is the inaccuracy of marine weather data.

However, as we opened up to the industry, we found other applications. For example, we are now working on a proof-of-concept for a new product: a very detailed map of coastline currents, which is super relevant to ports, aquaculture, and offshore energy infrastructure. We are collaborating with a microsatellite company on this. This has been a significant breakthrough for us.

What helped you change your mindset and discover new opportunities?

Georgia: I follow programs like Empowomen because, for us, they are our oxygen. We’ve been running on this kind of support and grants since 2023. It’s super important for us to have some runway to continue our work. The Empowomen program has been very relevant to us because it’s absolutely aligned with our current stage and strategy. These programs can be a distraction if they are not aligned because they are demanding.

The program is aligned with our path toward clients and investment. We’ve learned a lot, especially hands-on information about sales, internal goals, KPIs, and negotiation. It was funny because every time something was happening at AlongRoute, that week’s lesson topic would be about that exact issue. It was amazing.

What is your fundraising strategy?

Georgia: In the early stages, when you don’t have clients or revenue, grants might be the only solution. But now that we have clients, we’ve seen that interest from investors we spoke to last year is warming up again.

Our plan is a chain of events. We hope to have as many agreements as we can by the end of November. We have been discussing with a couple of investors who are interested in leading our pre-seed round. We’ve landed on a target of €700,000, and hopefully, by the end of November, we’ll be in a position to close. If you had asked me last year what our first needs would be with this funding, I would have said technical. Now, I’m saying marketing and sales.

Vasileios: I totally agree. Our participation in the Empowomen project was super helpful. The weekly meetings on different topics related to the startup approach were really helpful, as were the conversations with investors and other successful startups. The whole experience helped guide us in the right direction. The technical part is crucial—it’s what we sell—but at the end of the day, we need people to transfer our dream and convince customers to test our product. The most important thing is to open the door and start delivering the product.

What is the big dream for AlongRoute?

Georgia: The biggest dream is for AlongRoute to become a global leader in marine weather intelligence. We have the tools, the background, and we know how to do it. Marine weather data is so important for many segments. To capture these segments, you need to be big and have specific go-to-market and sales strategies. If we get the appropriate support and follow our growth plan, we should be able to achieve that.

For me, personally, it’s not about whether we sell to a bigger corporation or become a big corporation ourselves. The most important thing is that this little egg that hatched in recent years grows in the right direction and provides the impact we are dreaming of: safer trips, safer operations, and a real impact on the environment by reducing emissions. The important thing is for this to keep growing and evolving as we have imagined.

Vasileios: We share the same vision. The goal is to serve an industry, provide something valuable, and make the work process easier and safer. It’s not about a quick exit. The goal is to take stable steps and become part of the maritime industry, which is super challenging because it’s a traditional industry. We believe in ourselves, and we’ll see how it goes.