Overview
Panthalassa announced it has closed a $140 million Series B financing round, led by investor Peter Thiel, to support the manufacturing and deployment of its autonomous ocean-based computing systems designed for AI infrastructure. The Portland, Oregon-based renewable energy and ocean technology company said the new capital will be used to complete a pilot manufacturing facility near Portland and to accelerate the rollout of its Ocean-3 series of nodes.
What the funding will support
The company described the Ocean-3 nodes as autonomous, floating energy systems manufactured from plate steel in coastal factories and intended to operate in distant ocean regions. These nodes generate electricity continuously from ocean waves and use that power directly onboard to run AI inference chips. Rather than transmitting generated power back to land grids, Panthalassa sends inference tokens to shore by satellite. The surrounding ocean is used as a natural supercooling resource, which the company says helps address a significant engineering challenge faced by land-based data centers and can extend chip lifetimes.
Investor participation
Alongside the lead investor, the round includes a wide group of new investors and returning backers. New participants listed are John Doerr, TIME Ventures, SciFi Ventures, Susquehanna Sustainable Investments, Hanwha Group, Anthony Pratt, Fortescue Ventures, Future Positive, WTI, Nimble Partners, Super Micro Computer, Sozo Ventures, Dylan Field, Planetary VC, Leblon Capital, Resilience Reserve, Portland Seed Fund, and the Intrepid Oregon Fund. Returning investors named include Founders Fund, Gigascale Capital, Lowercarbon Capital, Unless, and WovenEarth.
Technical development and timeline
Panthalassa said it spent the past decade developing its core technologies in power generation, propulsion, autonomy, and at-sea computing. It cited prior prototypes - Ocean-1, Ocean-2, and Wavehopper - which proved the capabilities at sea in 2021 and 2024. The company plans to deploy Ocean-3 pilot nodes in the northern Pacific Ocean in 2026 to demonstrate AI inference capabilities and to refine its manufacturing process ahead of commercial deployments planned for 2027. Panthalassa positions the platform as a way to expand energy and AI computing capacity without building new land-based data centers or power plants.
Contextual notes
The announcement emphasizes manufacturing scale-up and at-sea deployment as near-term priorities. The firm intends to complete its pilot manufacturing facility near Portland to support mass production of the Ocean-3 series and to accelerate node deployment once piloting validates performance and manufacturing workflows.