Water technology company OceanWell announced $11 million in Series A funding to scale its next-generation modular deep-sea water farm solution and launch California’s water farm pilot with Las Virgenes Municipal Water District (LVMWD). And Kubota Corporation, a century-old leader in water infrastructure manufacturing, the family office of Jon Hemingway of Carrix Ports, and Charles McGarraugh, former head of metals trading at Goldman Sachs, participated in the round.
OceanWell is creating modular deep-sea water farms made up of pods that harness natural hydrostatic pressure at depths of 400 meters for reverse osmosis desalination. Each pod is able to produce up to one million gallons of fresh water daily, and the modular design enables for scalable projects based on demand. And this technology ensures ultra-clean water by filtering out salts, bacteria, viruses, pesticides, and PFAS, while its robust components are engineered for durability in harsh deep-sea environments. Unlike traditional desalination methods that are energy-intensive and threaten marine life, OceanWell’s technology reduces energy consumption by up to 40 percent, while protecting marine life and eliminating toxic brine disposal.
There is a mismatch between clean water supply and demand as experts projecting that billions of people could be without clean drinking water by 2050. This issue is being driven by rising demand for water in key economic sectors like agriculture, industry and manufacturing and compounded by the effects of climate change such as drought and flooding. OceanWell aims to provide affordable and abundant freshwater with its deep-sea pods, which produce 1 million gallons per day of potable water each. OceanWell’s first water farm is being developed in its home state, California.
Since being founded in 1890, the Kubota Group has been working to solve social issues through superior products, technologies, and services in the areas of food, water, and the environment. To address the globally worsening issue of water scarcity, Kubota has increased investment in advanced water technologies.
This announcement comes a year after OceanWell partnered with Las Virgenes Municipal Water District to establish California’s first water farm, aimed at supplying fresh drinking water to a region recovering from years of record-breaking drought. Previously, the company completed prototype testing at the U.S. Navy’s Deep Ocean Simulation Facility. And OceanWell is supported by a working group of 24 state water authorities in California and aims to build 15 water farms across the globe.
KEY QUOTES:
“At OceanWell, we’ve developed a new technology to rehydrate a drying world. Our goal is to provide utility-scale, reliable and sustainable freshwater solutions that can supply clean drinking water to communities across the globe. We’re grateful to our investors whose collective expertise across water technology, manufacturing and infrastructure project development will be invaluable to our company, and particularly as we look to scale up operations in the coming months.”
- Robert Bergstrom, Founder and CEO of OceanWell
“One of Kubota’s goals is to provide comprehensive solutions for the entire ‘water circulation loop’ from water production and supply to wastewater treatment and reclamation. OceanWell’s innovative technology, which can provide a stable long-term supply of potable water to water utilities in water-scarce regions, is indispensable for achieving this goal.”
- Eiji Yoshioka, Director and GM of the Water and Environment Infrastructure Consolidated Division of Kubota
