Data centers at sea: Oregon’s Panthalassa nets $140M led by Peter Thiel for wave-powered AI
Wave Energy has been lagging behind the US clean energy sector – until now. On Monday, Oregon-based Panthalassa announced a $140 million round led by Peter Thiel.
New funding from PayPal’s founders and others will allow the startup to finish building its pilot manufacturing facility near Portland. Panthalassa is developing technology that pairs the energy of waves generated by giant floating orbs with an onsite AI computer. Systems that transmit data via low-Earth-orbit satellites.
“We’ve built a technology platform that works in the world’s strongest tidal areas, far from shore, and turns that resource into reliable clean energy,” said Garth Sheldon-Coulson, Panthalassa’s founder and CEO, in a statement. “Now we are ready to build factories, launch airplanes, and provide a new sustainable energy source for humanity.”
The planet is scrambling to find new sources of energy to meet demand from electrified data centers and transportation, heating and cooling buildings, and industrial applications.
One of the biggest challenges in the history of wave energy is the need to build expensive infrastructure to move the energy from the ocean to where it is needed. Panthalassa’s approach sidesteps that problem by using onsite power to run already trained AI models, while tapping cold ocean water to cool the hardware – solving two problems at once.
The strategy shares similarities with the growing interest in space-based data centers that use solar energy. In March, Starcloud, a Redmond, Wash.-based startup, announced a new $170 million in funding, putting it in unicorn status at a $1.1 billion valuation.
“The future requires more calculation than we can imagine,” said Peter Thiel. “Extra-terrestrial solutions are no longer science fiction. Panthalassa has opened the ocean frontier.”
Founded in 2016 as a non-profit organization, Panthalassa has spent almost a decade developing energy production, propulsion, autonomous operations and computer technology. That work included prototypes – Ocean-1, Ocean-2 and Wavehopper – used in sea trials in 2021 and 2024. The company is now preparing to launch its Ocean-3 test series this year, with commercial plans planned for 2027.
Sheldon-Coulson previously served as senior investment partner at Bridgewater Associates. Chief Innovation Officer and founder Brian Moffat developed a novel wave energy system for Spindrift Energy before launching Panthalassa. The company has 120 employees.
Other Pacific Northwest companies pursuing wave power include Seattle’s Oscilla Power and Oregon State University spinout C-Power. Wave energy startups that have surpassed $100 million in global investment include Sweden’s CorPower Ocean and the United Kingdom’s Marine Power Systems.
The Series B round included the participation of new investors John Doerr, Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures, Max Levchin’s SciFi Ventures, Susquehanna Sustainable Investments, Hanwha Group, Anthony Pratt, Fortescue Ventures, Future Positive, WTI, Nimble Partners, SuperMicroet Capital, Dylan Ventures, Levchin, Levchin, Levchin, Levchin, Levchin. Reserve, Portland Seed Fund, and Intrepid Oregon Fund.
Returning investors include Innovation Fund, Gigascale Capital, Lowercarbon Capital, Except and WovenEarth. Panthalassa has collected a total of $210 million, said a spokesman for the department.
Editor’s note: Headcount and total funds are updated with new information from Panthalassa.
