This young startup wants to power floating data centers with the ocean’s heat, and investors are already on board

Detailed summary

Drogue is harvesting heat from the ocean to power data centers on floating vessels. The first prototype should be bobbing around the ocean, crunching bits, in less than two years.

Anyone who has weathered a hurricane can tell you that the oceans — which fuel the storms — contain a tremendous amount of energy. Thanks to global warming, they’re holding more than ever.

Drogue, which has kept a low profile until now, is building a system that harvests heat from the ocean to power data centers on board floating vessels. According to founder and CEO Sam Sipe, the first prototype should be bobbing around the ocean, crunching bits, less than two years from now.

The goal, Sipe said, is to help data center developers deploy servers in AI-friendly timelines. “The data center industry is a real estate game, and so they’re playing on 8- to 10-year timelines, including interoperability with utilities and [independent system operators]” that manage regional power grids, he said. “AI demand has increased 10x in just the last three years. It’s completely incompatible.”

Drogue was founded just six months ago in Washington, D.C., and the startup told TechCrunch exclusively that it has already raised $20 million, including from XYZ Venture Capital, Toyota Ventures, Tamarack Global, Dream, FDVC, Garuda Ventures, Flexcap, Boost VC, and Slow Ventures, among other investors.

In those six months, Drogue has designed a multi-megawatt prototype that will be installed on a traditional oceangoing ship and sent out to sea in early 2028. Future versions will be built on floating structures that more closely resemble offshore oil platforms.

After years flying E-2D Hawkeyes off U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, he had an appreciation for the ocean’s immense power. “Most people think, oh, ocean — hard waves, storms, corrosion, biofouling. And I just see this majestic place and resource that we just ignore,” he said.

As the planet warms, the oceans have been absorbing an additional 5.8 million terawatt-hours of energy every year. By comparison, all of human civilization uses about 180,000 terawatt-hours each year. If Drogue were to take some, surely the ocean wouldn’t miss it.

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