Insights

The Seabed is the New Frontline: Securing Undersea Cables and Digital Infrastructure

May 20, 2025

Alain Gavin

Alain Gavin

Managing Partner - Chief Investment Officer

As global competition intensifies, the seabed has quietly become one of the most strategic  and vulnerable domains of modern conflict. With 95% of internet traffic flowing through undersea cables, a single attack could paralyse economies. Alain Gavin examines how Europe and NATO are responding, and why dual-use startups are leading the innovation charge.

What If the First Strike Isn’t in Space, but on the Seabed?

In 2022, a coordinated explosion crippled the Nord Stream gas pipeline.


In 2023, UK intelligence tracked Russian vessels surveying Atlantic subsea cables.

This year, U.S. officials warned of Chinese “repair ships” hovering near critical Pacific networks.

95% of the world’s internet traffic runs through undersea cables. Sever them, and you don’t just cut communication, you paralyse entire economies.
This is no longer theory. It’s hybrid warfare, happening now.

Europe Just Responded — Big

In May, the European Commission committed €8 billion to reinforce submarine cable infrastructure and security.

The seabed has officially become a strategic asset.

But the real question is: Do we have the software layer to defend it?

Dual-Use Startups Are Building That Layer

Here are a few quietly building the next line of defence:
🔹 Optics11 (Netherlands) – Advanced fibre sensing for cable and seabed monitoring (Series B, €17M)
🔹 Indeximate (UK) – AI-powered diagnostics for subsea infrastructure health (Series A trajectory)
🔹 Saildrone (US/EU) – Autonomous maritime drones for persistent surveillance (Series B, $60M)
🔹 LevelQuantum (Italy) – Quantum-secure communication over subsea links (NATO DIANA-backed)
🔹 Goldilock (UK) – Remote “kill switch” for critical comms infrastructure (also DIANA-backed, earlier stage)

What’s Still Missing?

We urgently need:
Real-time sensor fusion
AI-powered threat detection
Seamless, operator-grade command and control (C2) interfaces
NATO-aligned secure information-sharing protocols
The sensors exist. What’s missing is the software orchestration layer.

LPs & Sovereigns: This Is the Time to Lean In

The EU has committed billions. NATO is accelerating pilots. But scalable innovation is still coming from agile, dual-use startups.

If you’re a sovereign fund, defence ministry, or institutional LP looking to back a specialist VC fund focused on space, cyber, and subsea resilience — let's talk.

The seabed is the new frontline. And it’s time to invest accordingly.

What People Say About PSION

Alain went beyond imaginable limits with his ability and professional VC expertise to coordinate our fundraising activities at CyStellar. His capability to deeply understand our company’s vision and match it with the right investors was crucial in shortening the time to closing the investment.

Alain helped us with the investment strategy, corporate restructuring, pitch deck, building an investor funnel and following up with investors, supporting the due diligence process, term sheet negotiations and provide recommendation for legal, financial, and tax advisors.

He’s really made a difference in our start-up success to raise its first seed round!

I chose him to join our Board as independent Non-Executive Director where he continues to add value to the strategic direction of the company.

Peter Bunus

CEO and Co-Founder - CyStellar

It has been exceptional working with Alain over the past few months to develop Skyrora’s financial model and business plan. Alain quickly understood the key drivers of the business, and he was able to combine them with his deep knowledge of the investment industry to ensure our model is well received by investors. He paid detailed attention to intricacies, such as revenue recognition and worked hand-in-hand with us to resolve all difficulties. 

Alain went far beyond what was expected and put us on track to successfully close our funding round. I highly recommend him.


Victor Ivanenko

CFO – SKYRORA (Rocket company)

Alain carried out due diligence on a complex, fast moving business. He worked very long hours and his efforts exceeded the amount of time that was expected. 

He did a deeply researched analysis of the business involved and the sector that it was trading in, as a result of which we made an investment in the target company. In addition, he carried out due diligence on two other companies, a high technology business with several valuable patents based on the West Coast of the USA, and a company supplying communications solutions to the global railways sector. 

Alain and I are discussing several further opportunities of working together.


Simon Hunt

Fund manager

Alain possesses superior organisational, planning and interpersonal skills. As CEO of the business we began together, and as the primary partner in the enterprise, he demonstrated his ability to build and motivate a team, and guided the group towards creative goals and solutions. 

Alain involves others, encourages their strategies for finding solutions and secures maximum commitment from each team member. He also achieved good results when negotiating.

Personally, I find Alain to be a bright and engaging individual. He has a breath of international experience which I find particularly interesting and has a collegial manner which enables him to work effectively with others.

Michael Buxton

Co-investor & entrepreneur

Alain produced an Information Memorandum for Microbus for new investors, he was extremely diligent and picked up the complexity of what is a highly technical niche market very quickly. Market detail across Europe in the public safety market is limited but Alain managed to access detail that had previously been unattainable. 

He was also very knowledgeable in how to value this type of opportunity and tested these valuations from several directions. He was easy to work with but persistent in ensuring he produced the best possible results. I would recommend Alain to anyone requiring an in depth study of their business.

Reg Marsh

MD and COO in Growth & Turnaround businesses

It was a pleasure working with Mr. Gavin and observing his highly professional attitude and his remarkable energy and perseverance in the work he accomplished. He took initiative even on difficult issues to achieve needed results. His unique motivational drive and energy and collegial manner made him well accepted among those he worked with closely.

Dr. Roland Voigt

ex-CFO - SCHOTT AG

Alain is a wonderful person to work with. His support in Skyrora’s outreach to secure funding was invaluable. In countless calls, we worked out strategies together on how to approach investors. 

Alain always inspired me with his ideas and relentless energy to reach out to the right investors. He helped us to do a ground-up analysis of the competitive and market landscape and convince investors of the immense opportunity in the Space launch industry. 

I would warmly recommend him and am thrilled to have him on board and hope to work with him again to secure our next investment round.

Anfisa Anikushina

M&A, SpaceTech

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PSION Next-gen Venture Capital. Investment guide.PSION Next-gen Venture Capital. Investment guide.