Panthalassa
Physical AI
Public-benefit company generating wave power in the open ocean and using it to run AI compute at sea.
Panthalassa is building an ocean energy and compute platform: autonomous floating nodes that convert deep-water wave motion into continuous electricity and run AI compute on site, going where the energy is instead of moving power to shore. Founded in 2016 and structured as a public-benefit corporation, it has tested prototypes including Ocean-1, Ocean-2 and Wavehopper, and describes Ocean-2 as its Pacific Ocean pilot deployment; hardware is designed for the planet's most energy-dense wave regions, far from shore, with zero emissions. It raised a $140M Series B in May 2026 led by Peter Thiel, alongside John Doerr, Marc Benioff's TIME Ventures, Max Levchin's SciFi Ventures, Susquehanna Sustainable Investments, Hanwha, Fortescue Ventures and Super Micro Computer, to fund manufacturing and first deployments.
Research mapping
Physical AI / Grid, Power & Thermal Infrastructure (L2) / B
Evidence boundary
Original analysis and independent corroboration remain under development. Commercial scale and durable technical advantage remain under review.
What makes it defensible
Deep-water wave energy paired with an offshore compute payload - a power source that needs no land, no grid interconnection queue and no water rights.
Position in the stack: Power-first infrastructure: it sells compute capacity generated by its own offshore nodes, so the defensible asset is the marine hardware and the wave-region sites/patents rather than the compute itself.
Who buys it
Founding team
Garth Sheldon-Coulson — Co-Founder & CEO — Co-founded Panthalassa in February 2016; previously Senior Investment Associate at Bridgewater Associates; leads the company's wave-powered energy and compute platform.
Brian Moffat — Co-Founder & Chief Innovation Officer — Engineer/inventor who co-founded Panthalassa in 2016 and leads wave-energy technology; previously at Spindrift Energy and Dollar Shave Club.
SourceFinancing detail
- Last round
- Series B+
Investors: Founders Fund, Lowercarbon Capital, Gigascale Capital; individual backers reported include Peter Thiel, John Doerr, Marc Benioff and Max Levchin
Mapped funds and investors
Direct relationships supported by published evidence.
Reported holdings as-of
No sourced relationships mapped yet.
Disclosed investment history
No sourced relationships mapped yet.
Showing up to four relationships in each group. ETF weights describe the fund’s portfolio, not ownership of this company. Private investment history does not establish current ownership.
Evidence & media
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Data centers at sea: Oregon's Panthalassa nets $140M led by Peter Thiel
What this source supports: GeekWire reports a $140M raise led by Peter Thiel for wave-powered offshore AI data centers.
What it does not establish: Does not establish deployment, revenue, or technical capacity.
Source -
Naver invests in US startup developing wave-powered AI data centers
What this source supports: The Korea Times reports Naver invested in Panthalassa (wave-powered AI data centers).
What it does not establish: Investment size/terms not confirmed; a financing fact, not deployment.
Source
Timeline
-
Financing
Series B+
Source