Key Takeaways
- • Panthalassa, a Portland, Oregon-based renewable energy and ocean technology company, announced $140 million in Series B financing led by Peter Thiel, according to a Business Wire release.
- • The round funds completion of the company's pilot manufacturing facility near Portland and accelerates deployment of its Ocean-3 series of wave-powered AI inference nodes.
- • Participants include new investors John Doerr, Marc Benioff's TIME Ventures, Max Levchin's SciFi Ventures, Hanwha Asset Management (USA)'s venture fund, Fortescue Ventures and Super Micro Computer, alongside returning investors Founders Fund, Gigascale Capital and Lowercarbon Capital.
- • The company plans to pilot Ocean-3 nodes in the northern Pacific Ocean in 2026 ahead of commercial deployments in 2027.
- • Panthalassa positions its offshore model as a way to sidestep grid, cooling water, permitting and land constraints faced by terrestrial data centers.
Summary
Panthalassa, a renewable energy and ocean technology company headquartered in Portland, Oregon, today announced $140 million in Series B financing led by Peter Thiel, according to a Business Wire release. The round also includes participation from new investors John Doerr, Marc Benioff's TIME Ventures, Max Levchin's SciFi Ventures, Susquehanna Sustainable Investments, Hanwha Asset Management (USA)'s venture fund, Anthony Pratt, Fortescue Ventures, Future Positive, Super Micro Computer, Dylan Field, Planetary VC, Leblon Capital and several other funds. Returning investors include Founders Fund, Gigascale Capital, Lowercarbon Capital, Unless and WovenEarth.
The proceeds will complete the company's pilot manufacturing facility near Portland and accelerate deployment of its Ocean-3 series of nodes. These autonomous, floating systems are mass-produced from plate steel in coastal factories and operate in distant ocean waters, generating electricity from waves around the clock. Rather than sending power to land-based grids, the nodes use it directly to run AI inference chips onboard and transmit results to shore by low-Earth-orbit satellite. The surrounding ocean provides free supercooling, which the company says addresses a major engineering challenge in land-based data centers and extends chip lifetimes.
Panthalassa says it has spent roughly a decade developing its power generation, propulsion, autonomy and at-sea computing technologies. Its Ocean-1, Ocean-2 and Wavehopper prototypes, tested in 2021 and 2024, demonstrated these capabilities at sea. The company plans to deploy Ocean-3 pilot nodes in the northern Pacific in 2026 to demonstrate AI inference and refine manufacturing, with commercial deployments targeted for 2027.
The company frames its platform as a response to constraints facing terrestrial data centers, including limited grid capacity, cooling water scarcity, supply chain bottlenecks, permitting delays and community impacts. CEO and co-founder Garth Sheldon-Coulson said the company is "now ready to build factories, deploy fleets, and provide a sustainable new source of energy for humanity." Peter Thiel said "Panthalassa has opened the ocean frontier," and John Doerr described the technology as a strategic asset that strengthens American technological leadership.
The proceeds will complete the company's pilot manufacturing facility near Portland and accelerate deployment of its Ocean-3 series of nodes. These autonomous, floating systems are mass-produced from plate steel in coastal factories and operate in distant ocean waters, generating electricity from waves around the clock. Rather than sending power to land-based grids, the nodes use it directly to run AI inference chips onboard and transmit results to shore by low-Earth-orbit satellite. The surrounding ocean provides free supercooling, which the company says addresses a major engineering challenge in land-based data centers and extends chip lifetimes.
Panthalassa says it has spent roughly a decade developing its power generation, propulsion, autonomy and at-sea computing technologies. Its Ocean-1, Ocean-2 and Wavehopper prototypes, tested in 2021 and 2024, demonstrated these capabilities at sea. The company plans to deploy Ocean-3 pilot nodes in the northern Pacific in 2026 to demonstrate AI inference and refine manufacturing, with commercial deployments targeted for 2027.
The company frames its platform as a response to constraints facing terrestrial data centers, including limited grid capacity, cooling water scarcity, supply chain bottlenecks, permitting delays and community impacts. CEO and co-founder Garth Sheldon-Coulson said the company is "now ready to build factories, deploy fleets, and provide a sustainable new source of energy for humanity." Peter Thiel said "Panthalassa has opened the ocean frontier," and John Doerr described the technology as a strategic asset that strengthens American technological leadership.
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