Bulwark Dynamics, a US developer of autonomous landing craft, has raised $6.8 million in seed funding to develop and produce its Caravel unmanned surface vessel (USV) series and expand manufacturing capacity.
The funding round, announced on September 9, includes SBI US Gateway Fund LP, Archetype Ventures, Nēnē Ventures and Japan’s Onomichi Dockyard. The company said the funds will also support testing in operationally representative environments.
Alongside the funding, Bulwark signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Onomichi Dockyard to establish a partnership for serial production of the Caravel series in Japan.
Under the MOU, Bulwark and Onomichi Dockyard will work together to build Caravel vessels in Japan. The companies are also discussing the establishment of a dedicated site for serial production of unmanned vessels, in addition to using Onomichi's existing shipyard.
Bulwark said the partnership will support production of the Caravel series closer to its intended operating environment while using existing shipbuilding infrastructure and supply chains in Japan.
The Caravel is designed to transport cargo to shore without requiring a port, pier, or crane. According to Bulwark, the autonomous vessel can transit to a shoreline, beach, unload cargo, and retract from the beach without human intervention, including in GPS-denied environments.
Bulwark said it demonstrated the full mission sequence with its 4.57-meter Caravel prototype in early 2026, including unmanned transit, beaching, cargo offload and retraction.
The company is also developing 10.67-meter and 16.76-meter versions of the platform. The larger variants are designed to carry one and two twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of containerized cargo, respectively. Bulwark said the variants will share major components to support production at scale.
The company is targeting military logistics operations for US and allied forces in the Indo-Pacific littorals, while also identifying potential civil applications such as disaster relief.