Zelim is a maritime technology company building AI-enabled safety and security systems for some of the most challenging environments at sea. Founded by Sam Mayall after losing friends overboard, the company began with a clear and urgent mission: improve the speed and certainty of rescue when every minute matters. From that starting point, Zelim has grown into a business spanning software, rescue systems, and autonomous capability, serving markets across cruise, defence, oil and gas, and commercial marine. What began as one founder’s response to a failure in maritime safety has become a company with international contracts, a growing team, and global ambition. Alongside that growth, Sam engaged with Techscaler, delivered by CodeBase on behalf of the Scottish Government, through founder support, introductions, and the wider ecosystem around the programme. This is a case study in building through complexity, solving for real-world risk, and using the right support to strengthen momentum at the right stage.
Sam’s route into startup life began at sea. A mariner by background, he founded Zelim after losing friends overboard, an experience that exposed how narrow the rescue window can be and how much depends on early detection. The company was incorporated in 2017, with concrete build taking shape in 2020. Early work focused on creating new rescue capability, including the first conveyor rescue system and later an unmanned rescue vessel. As the company evolved, the team recognised the bigger operational challenge: if you cannot find someone in the water quickly, you cannot rescue them. That realisation pushed Zelim deeper into software and AI, shaping the company’s flagship direction and the broader product ecosystem it has today.
Before engaging with Techscaler, Zelim was already pursuing difficult technical and commercial ground. Sam was building in a category where proof matters, deployment cycles are long, and credibility has to be earned repeatedly. Founded in 2017, expedited traction began n in 2020 in the middle of COVID, just as their planned £400,000 seed raise ultimately closed at around £60,000 due to COVID-disruption. At the same time, Zelim was moving from concept into engineering reality, building world-first products while assembling the team needed to do it. As the company expanded into software, new challenges emerged around product development, fundraising, and global market access. Instead of noise Zelim needed useful introductions, experienced perspective, and access to a stronger founder ecosystem.
Zelim’s experience with Techscaler was grounded in practical support rather than broad-brush intervention. Sam describes his main contact, Mairi, as highly enthusiastic and helpful, particularly in making introductions and opening conversations that aligned with Zelim’s next stage of growth. That mattered because by this point the company was already operating with serious commercial ambition across cruise, defence, and offshore markets. Techscaler added value by helping strengthen access around that journey, especially through introductions into U.S. funds and networks. For a company beginning to globalise, that kind of support was relevant and well timed.
The value of the programme also extended beyond introductions. Sam pointed to mentor access for the team and the wider founder ecosystem around CodeBase as part of what made the experience worthwhile. Just as importantly, the relationship became two-way. As Zelim matured, Sam registered as a Techscaler mentor and took part in speaking events, using his own journey to give other founders the kind of perspective he did not have at the beginning. This signposts the kind of strong ecosystem design CodeBase intends to bring into effect. The most effective programmes do not only deliver support into companies. They create conditions where experience starts circulating back into the community. For CodeBase, that is where founder support becomes ecosystem strength. For Zelim, it meant access to relevant people, grounded advice, and a network that matched the scale of its ambition.
After those early years of experimentation and hard-won progress, Zelim entered a period of sharper commercial traction. The company has now grown from a one-man band to around 45 people and has established offices in the U.S. and the Middle East, with Canada in progress. Sam said Zelim has raised around £17 million to £18 million to date, while building world-first products including a conveyor rescue system and an unmanned rescue vessel that became certified in 2024. Its software has since become a flagship capability, helping drive contracts across oil and gas, cruise, and defence. Sam also linked the company’s U.S. expansion to real market activity, including Navy work and cruise opportunities. The direction of travel is clear: deeper internationalisation, broader deployment, and continued growth in maritime safety and security.
Zelim’s story is a reminder that high-impact companies are rarely built through product ambition alone. They grow through timing, resilience, strong teams, and access to the right people at the right moment. For Sam, Techscaler offered useful support through introductions, mentoring access, and the wider founder ecosystem around CodeBase. For CodeBase, it is another example of how founder-led programmes can strengthen companies that are already solving difficult, globally relevant problems.
Follow Zelim on LinkedIn to track its next phase of growth in maritime safety and security.
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