It’s not often you see Peter Thiel, the investor and Palantir cofounder who has dismissed climate science and likened Greta Thunberg to an antichrist, team up with climate investors in a promising clean power startup.
Thiel funds led the $140 million Series B round for Oregon-based Panthalassa, which makes floating energy systems that generate clean power from ocean waves. Other investors in the round include Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures, Susquehanna Sustainable Investments, Planetary VC, Chris Anderson’s Resilience Reserve, and Fortescue Ventures.
The appeal for Thiel: a novel way to power AI computing while reducing strain on the grid and avoiding community pushback. Panthalassa’s autonomous energy systems power onboard AI chips to perform inference computing deep at sea, which offers natural cooling. The computing results are transmitted back to land via satellite.
“Panthalassa has opened the ocean frontier,” Thiel said in a release.
Terrawatt potential
Ocean power represents a potential source of abundant clean energy, on par with solar and nuclear, said Panthalassa’s Garth Sheldon-Coulson.
“We’ve built a technology platform that operates in the planet’s most energy-dense wave regions, far from shore, and turns that resource into reliable clean power. We’re now ready to build factories, deploy fleets, and provide a sustainable new source of energy for humanity.”
