Beyond the Beach: Paige Roepers On How Ocean Ledger is Navigating Coastal Risk from Coral Reefs to Corporate Balance Sheets

The NatureBacked Podcast

What happens when a lifelong passion for the ocean meets the world of high finance? You get Ocean Ledger.

Paige, a marine biologist by heart who (surprisingly) transitioned to banking and consulting, shares the serendipitous journey that led her to co-found a company on a mission to change how we understand and manage coastal risks.

Prepare to have your perceptions challenged as Paige shows why oceans and the financial industry, far from being distant concepts, are intricately linked, especially when assessing global assets and exposures.

Key topics covered:

• Origin of Ocean Ledger: Started from Paige's marine biology background, desire to work in ocean space beyond pure science, and serendipitous discovery of her co-founder's satellite mapping research after her time in banking.
• Ocean & Banking Connection: Despite seeming disparate, Paige argues they're highly overlapped, as 70% of the world is ocean, impacting global assets and financial exposure.
• Current Stage & Funding: Spun out 1.5 years ago, raised first venture funding in January, and are launching their first product for the financial services industry, starting with insurance.
• B2B Sales Challenges: Acknowledged the slow pace of B2B sales in finance/insurance and strategies to de-risk (relationships, industry presence, focused product development, strategic opportunistic revenue).
• Ocean Ledger's Product: Offers a software/dashboard for hazard assessment of storm surge and erosion, providing historical insight, quantifying existing defenses, and analyzing coastline changes for risk pricing and vulnerability assessment.
• Target Markets: The initial focus will be on the US due to its high concentration of risk, with plans to expand to the Caribbean and Australia, where natural defenses are crucial.
• Storm Surge Analysis: Explained that their USP is not just the physics model, but how the seabed depth, natural features (mangroves, rocks), and historical shoreline changes (erosion, beach nourishment) influence storm surge damage.
• Satellite Monitoring: Utilizes satellite monitoring, capable of updating data every six days (though not always needed), providing high-frequency updates on coastline changes.
• Long-Term Vision: Aims to be world-class in risk management for businesses and governments, bridging the gap between insurance/broking and insured clients (ports, developers) to unlock funding for exposure reduction through natural or built defenses.
• Paige's Personal Connection: Reiterated her deep connection to the ocean, though she admitted it had been a few months since her last swim.

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