Whale Dock

IESE Business School

Industry: Naval Industry

MBA Founding Student Name(s): Sergi Rivera Morcillo

Brief Description of Solution: Whale Dock is a next-generation ship-lifting system enabling the dry-docking, construction, repair, and maintenance of heavy vessels in a more sustainable, cost-efficient, and a safer way. Fully electric, it reduces CAPEX by 40%, OPEX by 50%, maintenance costs by 60%, and lowers the carbon footprint by 78%. Whale Dock redefines the maritime infrastructure of shipyards by replacing outdated dry docks with the Future of Ship-Lifting: a self-balanced and eco-friendly ship-lift.

Funding Dollars: $120,000

What led you to launch this venture? It all began in 2017, when I was asked to design a submersible platform for a research submarine. While working on it, I realized that the platform could pay for itself in one use because the alternative was hiring a multimillion-euro oceanographic vessel. That insight stayed with me.

A year later, I was talking with Xavi, who would later become my co-founder and Whale Dock’s CTO. We were looking at how traditional ship-lifts work and couldn’t ignore how oversized and overcomplicated the whole system was. So, we wondered: what if the empty space between its beams were filled with watertight air compartments?

That question led us to Archimedes’ principle and to the idea that buoyancy could replace most of the motors, cables, and heavy foundations in traditional ship-lifts.

What began as two curious people asking a naive question quickly revealed the scale of the challenge ahead. But that was exactly what drew us in, the belief that we could reshape ship-lifting and deliver a truly disruptive solution for the shipbuilding and repair industry.

What has been your biggest accomplishment so far with venture? Our biggest accomplishments include winning the 2025 Spanish Naval Entrepreneurship Award and securing an agreement to build our first 20-tonne-lifting prototype.

The award, granted by senior naval industry leaders, validated our technical approach and its potential benefits for shipyards. Meanwhile, the 20-tonne-lifting prototype agreement with V de Bravado shipyard confirms market demand, with construction starting in early 2026 and testing scheduled between June and September.

In addition to these milestones, we moved from an early-stage idea to a tested small-scale model in just six months, filed our European patent, gathered 27 Letters of Interest from potential clients and partners, and progressed toward a $360,000 grant from Spanish government.

What has been the most significant challenge you’ve faced in creating your company and how did you solve it?

Our business model is based on licensing our technology, engineering, and software. The first competitive product is a 3,000-tonne-lifting ship-lift costing around 30 million dollars. The key challenge: who assumes responsibility if something goes wrong with such a heavy CAPEX asset?

Our solution was to start small and partner at every step to gradually reduce risk:

1. Build a 20-tonne-lifting prototype (for boats up to 12 meters) with a shipyard partner.

2. A second shipyard has expressed interest in building a 200-tonnes-lifting prototype following the success of the first prototype.

3. Top shipyards in Spain are keen to observe the performance of the first two prototypes before building the first full-scale 3,000-tonne-lifting ship-lift.

The first two prototypes aren’t meant to be competitive products since cranes are much cheaper, but they will generate operational data, validate the engineering and software, and build confidence in the full-scale solution.

We also want to ensure that the prototypes will remain in active use, adding value to the industry and continuously collecting real operating data instead of becoming abandoned test units.

How has your MBA program helped you further this startup venture? Studying the MBA at IESE has allowed me to combine technical knowledge with business fundamentals, which has significantly accelerated the growth of Whale Dock. The guidance of Professors Albert Fernández, Mathieu Carenzo, and Josemaria Siota (Executive Director of IESE’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center), along with the colleagues from the IESE Entrepreneurship Club, provided valuable mentorship and networking opportunities.

Additionally, exposure to investors and industry operators through IESE’s entrepreneurship ecosystem gave me clarity on our business model, helped structure our strategy and roadmap, and improved my ability to manage collaborators and engage with investors.

Which MBA class has been most valuable in building your startup and what was the biggest lesson you gained from it? The most valuable MBA class in building Whale Dock was New Ventures, taught by Mathieu Carenzo. In this course, we built an entirely new venture from scratch, working in a team of four students over four months. The key objective was to take an initial idea and, by the end of the course, validate it with real clients in the market. First, we defined assumptions about the product and market; then, we tested these assumptions by engaging with clients to assess their willingness to pay. If clients were not willing to pay, we iterated and generated new assumptions.

I learned to translate ideas into tangible outcomes by engaging with clients and collaborators. The course culminated in a final presentation in front of real investors, giving us a first taste of pitching a startup with market-validated evidence.

What professor made a significant contribution to your plans and why? Albert Fernández has been a key contributor to the development of Whale Dock. I met him at least twice a month during my MBA, and he has always responded to every email with invaluable advice. His guidance on contracts, IP protection, and liability frameworks helped shape the foundation of our startup. He also prepared me for negotiations with shipyards and public institutions.

Beyond his guidance, Albert has connected me with some contacts across the maritime sector. His willingness to help, clear business vision, and ability to simplify complex challenges have made him an exceptional business mentor throughout this journey.

How has your local startup ecosystem contributed to your venture’s development and success? Ports de Barcelona invited us to present Whale Dock at the Barcelona Boat Show 2025. The strong interest from naval experts there led to further invitations: to present at Navalia 2026 in Vigo, one of Europe’s leading international maritime industry exhibitions, and at the 65th International Congress of Naval and Ocean Engineering in Málaga in April 2026.

The Spanish College of Naval Engineers has supported us from the beginning, inviting us to present at their General Assembly, including us in their mentorship program, and connecting us with shipyards that align with each stage of our roadmap — from smaller yards suitable for early prototypes to larger shipyards prepared for full-scale deployment.

In 2025, we also secured a $17,000 grant from Puertos del Estado’s IDEA program, which we used to develop our small-scale model, file our European patent, and formally establish the company.

Additionally, initiatives such as Blue Economy Investor Day, the Keiretsu Forum, and the Catalan Pitch Competition have provided us with funding opportunities, visibility, and valuable connections across both the maritime sector and the deep-tech ecosystem.

What is your long-term goal with your startup? Our long-term goal goes beyond developing a new ship-lifting system. We aim to reshape how shipyards operate vessel construction and maintenance by eliminating inefficiencies, reducing safety risks, and overcoming the physical limitations that have constrained the naval industry for decades.

With our technology, shipyards will be able to perform multiple repairs simultaneously, reducing waiting lists and maximizing vessel throughput. Ultimately, we envision clean shipyards and safe environments where ship construction, maintenance and repair processes are predictable and optimized for the modern maritime industry.

Looking back, what is the biggest lesson you wished you’d known before launching and scaling your venture? I learned that real impact doesn’t come from the solution itself. It comes from truly understanding the problem and the ecosystem around it. Only by mapping the needs and incentives of every stakeholder can you articulate the real value that you can bring and build the alliances required for success.

At the beginning, we focused on technology, engineering and software. But our true acceleration came when we started collaborating, and exploring the benefits together with every actor involved: shipyards, port authorities, regulators, operators, and even the financiers behind maritime assets. Once we understood what each stakeholder needed, conversations shifted from “selling a product” to co-creating value for the industry, and doors began to open.

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