In August 2023, SWEN Blue Ocean, a 170 million euro impact fund that invested in startups contributing to ocean sustainability, faced a critical investment decision. Part of SWEN Capital Partners, an 8 billion euro, Paris-based private equity fund, Blue Ocean was co-founded in 2021 by Christian Lim and Olivier Raybaud. It focused on venture-stage companies that offered scalable, proven solutions to overfishing, ocean pollution, and climate change. Its investments were approved by an expert impact committee, and the fund's carried interest depended on it meeting impact targets that were confirmed by its investors. Blue Ocean now had to decide whether to invest in WSense, an Italian company whose products had the potential to revolutionize underwater communications, creating networks equivalent to Wi-Fi at sea. WSense's innovations could capabilities that were essential to ocean sustainability, but there were also risks that they could have a negative impact, enabling fossil fuel production or weapons development. The case asks if Blue Ocean should make the investment, or not.