Norwegian subsea desalination company Flocean has extended its Series A funding to $22.5 million (NOK 228 million). The funding will be used to launch and operate its demonstrator and commercial subsea desalination plant, Flocean One, in 2026 at Norway’s oil refinery at Mongstad, and to support continued organizational growth and advance large-scale commercial projects across Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, and island nations.
Flocean also announced an agreement with Norway’s Alver Municipality at Mongstad to explore offering Flocean’s water to the municipality’s industrial and consumer customers, and to assess its integration into existing water infrastructure. Flocean has been desalinating water for 12 months at its test site at Mongstad Industrial Park.
The company said Flocean One will produce 1,000 cubic meters of freshwater daily when it launches in 2026. Its modular design enables it to scale from 5,000 to 50,000 cubic meters per day.
The extension adds global water solutions company Xylem Inc. as a strategic investor to help scale Flocean’s desalination technology worldwide. Backing also came from existing investors Burnt Island Ventures, Freebird Capital, Katapult Ocean, Nysnø Climate
Investments, and new investors Ari Emanuel, Orion, Rypples and Wellers Impact’s Water Unite Impact Fund. The CEO of Asset Buyout Partners (ABP), also participated.
Desalination aims to bring fresh, often drinkable water to places where it is lacking, because of geography, drought or other issue. Globally, fresh water sources are being rapidly depleted, often channeled to industrial uses such as data centers, which consume–by some estimates–five million liters a day. The UN projects that by 2050 some three billion people will face water scarcity.
“Water-intensive industries from semiconductors to data centers to mining are increasingly constrained by water scarcity. They need solutions that can deploy faster, cost less, and operate more sustainably,” said Alexander Fuglesang, Founder & CEO of Flocean. “That’s exactly what subsea desalination delivers.”
Desalination has historically been highly energy intensive and results in an environmentally damaging output of brine. Flocean’s desalination systems are 400–600 meters below the water, leveraging the natural pressure of the ocean to reduce cost and deployment time. The company said its technology provides a 50% reduction in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions; uses 95% less coastal land; reduces pre-treatment infrastructure by 60%; and requires zero chemical pre-treatment.
The company also said there was no toxic brine discharge as discharge occurs “below sensitive habitats” although recent science has revealed that, despite what scientists previously believed, life exists in all layers of the ocean.
Flocean operates under a Build-Own-Operate model, selling water as a service to municipal and industrial clients under long-term, offtake agreements spanning 15-25 years. The company has secured initial project agreements in multiple countries, including collaborations with utilities in the Mediterranean, Red Sea, and Indian Ocean regions.
