01 / THE OPENING
Turn seawater into energy certainty.
A new infrastructure layer for power-hungry AI campuses.
Seawater → hydrogen → dispatchable power
Energy certainty for AI scale.
A stage-gated plan to convert a peer-reviewed electrochemical concept into safe, repeatable energy infrastructure for AI campuses and coastal industry.
Narrated overview
See the investment case unfold.
Nine concise chapters connect the power problem, the seawater-to-hydrogen platform, the science, the team and the $8M proof plan.
7 Seas Hydrogen / investor briefing01 / 09
Chapter 1 · The opening
Investment thesis
Fund the evidence, not an unbounded build.
AI infrastructure is becoming power-constrained before it is compute-constrained. The proposed wedge is deliberately bounded: prove the complete seawater-to-hydrogen-to-power loop, generate decision-quality data, then expand capital intensity with customers and infrastructure partners.
Power is the bottleneck
Interconnection delays, grid congestion and time-to-power can slow AI capacity deployment.
Start non-critical
Pair pilot-scale hydrogen generation with fuel cells and measured loads before moving into backup, peak support and microgrid services.
Own the operating envelope
Potential IP spans electrode geometry, controls, safety, durability data and customer-specific integration.
Commercialize repeatability
Move from paid studies and demonstrations into module delivery, recurring service, licensing and project partnerships.
The investable questionCan 7 Seas Hydrogen convert promising electrochemistry into a repeatable, safe and bankable energy module?
Market pull
Capacity follows power.
Hydrogen is positioned here as an energy infrastructure layer—not a commodity molecule. It complements renewables and batteries by converting available clean power into storable fuel for dispatch during peaks, grid events and hard-to-match hours.
>1,000
TWh by 2030
Projected global data-center electricity supply need, rising to 1,300 TWh by 2035.
IEA projections as cited in the source investor deck.
Grid timing is a strategic constraint.
Sites are increasingly selected—or delayed—based on utility power availability and interconnection timing.
Longer-duration storage matters.
Batteries cover fast, short-duration needs. Hydrogen can extend the storage and dispatch window while fuel cells return electricity without combustion.
Scientific foundation
A specific effect. A disciplined proof burden.
The reported work found that direct seawater electrolysis behaves differently at high current density, and that electrode geometry materially changes chlorine-related output, hydrogen production, heat and degradation.
Conical electrodes reduced chloride substantially versus cylindrical electrodes in the reported operating window.
This finding is the foundation—not yet a commercial performance claim.
What field validation must answer
01
Continuous-duty efficiency
Publish the kWh/kg H₂ curve and net round-trip performance under steady-state operation.
02
Durability economics
Measure electrode erosion, service interval and consumable cost.
03
Byproduct control
Validate gas handling, chlorine monitoring, scrubbing and discharge boundaries.
04
Data-center readiness
Demonstrate alarms, shutdown response, telemetry, maintainability and safety boundaries.
Proposed microgrid product
One modular energy loop.
The product thesis joins electrolysis, storage, fuel-cell conversion, safety, water treatment and controls into a site-adjacent system designed to dispatch when the campus needs it.
01 INPUT
Clean electricity
Run in low-cost, surplus or low-carbon hours.
02 PROCESS
Seawater electrolysis
Intake, treatment and hydrogen generation.
03 BUFFER
Hydrogen storage
Compressed storage sized to the target duty cycle.
04 CONVERT
Fuel-cell block
Dispatchable electricity without combustion.
05 LOAD
AI data halls
Backup, peak support and resilience services.
Water loop — recover fuel-cell water for site utilities or cooling integration.
Heat loop — model recovered heat against cooling and process loads.
Dispatch loop — controls schedule production and delivery against site signals.
Commercial wedge
Sell the outcome, not the molecule.
The first customer should value data, resilience and optionality. Each use case begins at non-critical load and expands only as safety, reliability and economics are demonstrated.
Strategic customer targets
Five entry points. One infrastructure layer.
The proposed account strategy meets each operator at a stated energy objective, while keeping the offer consistent: use the hydrogen production and integration layer to de-risk capacity, resilience and hard-to-match clean-power hours.
Modular resiliency
Explore a storage and fuel-cell block aligned with renewable matching and water-positive goals.
Extend hydrogen backup
Pair a site-adjacent electrolysis module upstream of existing hydrogen backup ambitions.
Hard-to-match hours
Test stored clean energy as a dispatch layer supporting a 24/7 carbon-free energy goal.
Reduce diesel reliance
Evaluate clean backup optionality for fast-growing AI campuses.
Accelerator partner
Demonstrate energy-certain AI capacity with a renewable, high-efficiency AI operator.
Peer-reviewed foundationHigh-current-density seawater electrolysis.
Seawater / brine pathwayRelevant where freshwater is constrained.
Chlorine-management insightGeometry and operating window address a core barrier.
Data-center-first wedgeUrgent, concentrated infrastructure demand.
Integrated architectureProcess, storage, controls, safety and monitoring.
Multi-benefit outputDispatchable power with water and heat recovery.
Offshore deployment concept
Prove the loop where the resource is.
A vessel or offshore platform is proposed as a temporary evidence environment: direct seawater access, integrated renewable input, controlled equipment interfaces and a mobile demonstration point for partners.
Real feedstockTest with seawater at source rather than a simplified lab proxy.
Instrumented campaignMeasure efficiency, durability, byproducts, safety and marine-motion effects.
Mobile demonstrationBring decision-quality evidence to ports, partners and future pilot locations.
Stage-gated roadmap
Proof → data → customer pilot.
Capital intensity increases only after evidence. The shipboard system is a temporary proof platform: a controlled way to validate the complete loop with real seawater before a larger offshore or customer-specific deployment.
Feasibility & design
Process basis, hazard analysis, test envelope, vessel interfaces, vendor pricing and permit pathway.
Shipboard proof
Build, commission and run an instrumented seawater-to-power campaign.
Offshore demonstration
Increase duty cycle, integrate renewable supply and validate maintainability.
Customer-led pilot
Deliver a use-case-specific system with contracted customer participation.
Why start on a vessel?
A mobile evidence platform.
The vessel is not the end product. It places the system at a real seawater source, provides controlled utilities and instrumentation, enables demonstration at partner locations, and produces decision-quality evidence on efficiency, durability, byproducts, safety, motion effects and maintenance.
Lock the process basis, interfaces and test plan.
Bring the integrated system safely online.
Run a repeatable instrumented test series.
Third-party review, customer data room and next-pilot basis.
At least one paid pilot, partner term sheet or funded next-stage program.
Business model
Early revenue funds learning. Later revenue monetizes repeatability.
The commercial sequence starts with paid engineering and demonstration work, then expands into system delivery, recurring operations revenue and partner-financed project models.
Feasibility & engineering
Paid design studies, integration analysis and pilot definition.
Paid demonstrations
Customer- or partner-funded demos with evidence packages.
System delivery
Electrolyzer, treatment, controls, safety and commissioning margin.
Recurring service
Monitoring, consumables, compliance reporting and uptime services.
Project upside
Licensing, joint ventures, hydrogen-as-a-service or power-as-a-service.
Team
Built at the intersection of ocean systems and hydrogen science.
7 Seas Hydrogen brings together maritime operations leadership and advanced materials science to move a seawater energy platform from controlled evidence to field deployment.
CEO / 01
John W. Koster
Chief Executive Officer
7 Seas Hydrogen
Santa Cruz, California
View LinkedIn profileJohn pairs deep marine operations leadership with hands-on hydrogen electrolysis research—the combination behind 7 Seas Hydrogen’s seawater-to-power platform. Since 2017, he has served as a Research Fellow in the Ocean Sciences Department at UC Santa Cruz, advancing patent-pending U.S. and Chinese ultra-high-current-density electrolysis of natural seawater and publishing in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. His 31-year U.S. Coast Guard career included command of Activities Far East in Tokyo and Activities Europe in Rotterdam, as well as search-and-rescue helicopter operations in Corpus Christi and Puerto Rico. Earlier field experience with the U.S. Geological Survey and Peace Corps Kenya adds a practical foundation in marine science and environmental systems.
HYDROGEN R&DResearch Fellow, UC Santa CruzIndustrial-scale natural-seawater electrolysis research, 2017–present.
MARITIME COMMAND31 years, U.S. Coast GuardMarine safety, environmental protection, port security and international command.
OPERATIONSSearch & Rescue helicopter pilotOperational leadership from Coast Guard Air Stations in Texas and Puerto Rico.
MARINE SCIENCEU.S. Geological Survey · Peace Corps KenyaMarine science technician and volunteer marine biologist.
ADVISOR / 02
Nobuhiko “Nobby” Kobayashi
Consulting Materials Scientist
7 Seas Hydrogen
Nobuhiko “Nobby” Kobayashi is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at UC Santa Cruz and an expert in energy conversion technology, semiconductors and optoelectronics. He leads the Nanostructured Energy Conversion Technology and Research (NECTAR) lab, whose work includes generating hydrogen from seawater as a renewable-energy pathway. An inventor with more than 20 U.S. patents, he was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors in 2023. His industry and national-laboratory experience includes Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Agilent Laboratories. He earned both his M.S. and Ph.D. in materials science from the University of Southern California.
ENERGY SCIENCEProfessor, UC Santa CruzEnergy conversion technology, semiconductors and optoelectronics.
NECTAR LABHydrogen from seawaterLeads research focused on renewable-energy conversion.
INVENTION20+ U.S. patentsNational Academy of Inventors Fellow, elected in 2023.
EXPERIENCEHP · LLNL · AgilentM.S. and Ph.D. in materials science, University of Southern California.
Capital plan
A 24-month de-risking round.
The proposed seed/pilot round is intended to fund engineering, shipboard proof, safety work and a customer-ready evidence package—not a commercial-scale infrastructure rollout.
Pilot hardware & integration$2.4M30%
Engineering & controls$1.9M24%
Marine / vessel integration$1.2M15%
Team & G&A$1.1M14%
Safety, regulatory & verification$0.7M9%
Contingency$0.7M9%
Dollar amounts sum to $8.0M. Percentage figures are rounded as presented in the source financial model.
Illustrative five-year management case
A planning model—not an audited result, contracted pipeline or forecast. Values exclude debt, taxes, working capital, subsidies, 45V, project finance and dilution.
RevenueOpexPilot / growth capex
Risk register
Make uncertainty measurable.
The plan treats risk as an engineering sequence. Each gate must produce a decision-quality measurement, operating boundary or commercial commitment before the next scale step.
Efficiency
Publish kWh/kg H₂ and round-trip performance under continuous duty.
Electrode durability
Measure degradation, replacement interval and consumable cost.
Chlorine and byproducts
Define monitoring, gas handling, treatment and discharge controls.
Marine environment
Validate corrosion, motion, utilities, access and maintainability.
Codes and AHJ review
Build around NFPA 2, hydrogen detection, ventilation and storage setbacks.
Customer adoption
Start at non-critical load and make the next stage customer-led.
The ask
Help turn a scientific foundation into field evidence.
7 Seas Hydrogen is seeking the capital, engineering depth, strategic access and safety support required to build and validate a credible energy platform.
01Pilot capital
Fund the engineering and instrumented proof program.
Fund the engineering and instrumented proof program.
02Engineering partners
Advance electrochemistry, controls, marine integration and fuel-cell interfaces.
Advance electrochemistry, controls, marine integration and fuel-cell interfaces.
03Strategic customer access
Shape pilots with AI data centers, ports, utilities and industrial sites.
Shape pilots with AI data centers, ports, utilities and industrial sites.
04Safety and permitting support
Develop a repeatable compliance package for site deployment.
Develop a repeatable compliance package for site deployment.