About us

We want to help maritime professionals unlock their digital potential by providing intelligent and easy-to-use software based on industry knowledge, big data, and algorithms.

Norway is a small country, and most companies have very little bureaucracy and hierarchies. We have a well-functional maritime cluster of companies providing various services to the global maritime industry. That makes Norway an excellent place for developing a game-changing maritime software.

Maritime Optima was founded in April 2018 by Kristin Omholt-Jensen and her sons after mapping software in use and interviewing people working in the industry. When Pål-Robert Engnæs embarked as the CTO and investor in April 2020 the company came into operation.

We launched a test/beta version of ShipAtlas in September 2020. The first ShipAtlas MVP was launched in January 2021. We launched ShipIntel MVP with 5 modules in October 2022. Today the company is funded by the founders, employees, shipping investors, and Krysse AS. The company is also supported by the Norwegian Research Council and Innovation Norway.

We are 14 employees plus some students working part-time.

Our history

Phase 1
0 users
2018
2019
2020

KOJ Invest AS founded the company in April 2018 under the name of Safe Sea Way AS.

In May we were awarded the Copernicus prize by the Norwegian Space Agency.

We started interviewing people working in the maritime industry and mapped the softwares they were using.

In June 2019, we decided to go forward with the company, and KOJ Invest AS and Preng AS signed up for NOK 7,5 million and we started recruiting a team. During 2019 several companies signed up to join our R&D project.

Logo, name and product trademark were registered. We were invited to join the Microsoft Start-up program, and we signed an agreement with BunkerEx.

In April 2020 we had a preliminary roadmap ready, and Pål Robert embarked as our CTO. KOJ Invest, Preng AS, Cache Invest AS and Krysse AS, signed up for NOK 17 million. The Covid pandemic and lock downs forecasted stormy waters ahead.

In September we launched a beta version for web, Android and iPhones, with access to only 3 AIS satellites. During the autumn we launched new features and made frequent improvements in the product.

2 500 users
10 000 users
15 000 users
2021
2022

In January 2021 we officially launched a MVP product on web and for iPhones and Android. We had become a team of 7 people.

We signed an agreement with Orbcomm, and got access to more AIS satellites and terrestrial senders.

In April 2021 we launched our student awards program in cooperation with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

In May the first Master student project was completed; "Vessel Destination Forecasting Based on Historical AIS Data".

During 2021 we spent time and knowledge in data wrangling; cleaning and unifying messy and complex data sets for easy access and analysis. We frequently launched new content and product upgrades based on user feedback.

During the summer of 2021 we re-launched the web product based on user feedback, and we launched a Microsoft Teams app.

In December 2021 we signed a contract with Spire to secure an even better global AIS coverage. Internal investors, employees og new external shipping investors signed up for NOK 15 mill.

In January we divided the first product in two new products; ShipAtlas and "Maritime Optima Pro".

30 000 users
60 000 users
140 000 users
2023

In July 2022 we changed name of the Pro product to ShipIntel and launched 2 new mobile apps for ShipAtlas and ShipIntel.

We released a new sea route engine able to route from any of the vessels AIS position to any port in seconds, also from your mobile.

In October we officially launched the ShipIntel MVP on web with 5 modules. We also launched a new design on web for ShipAtlas.

In December 2022 we launched the ShipAtlas Premium subscription plan and a new module in ShipIntel.

We moved into new offices in Vika in January.

We launched the Position List as a new module in ShipIntel in February.

By end of February paying users in ShipAtlas have increased with more than 30 % since the beginning of the year, and paying users in ShipIntel has increased with more than 50 %.

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