For many climate technology companies, the journey from an ambitious idea to a commercially viable technology is measured not only in engineering milestones, but in the ability to attract the right capital at the right time.

For Western Australian renewable energy company WaveX, that journey has involved years of technical development, government support, industry expertise and private investment - culminating in the company’s progression towards its large-scale wave energy pilot in Western Australia.

WaveX was founded by a team of experienced offshore engineers who set out to transfer decades of expertise from the oil and gas and marine industries into the emerging clean energy economy. Led by Founder and Managing Director Simon Renwick, the company has developed the patented D-Spar™ Wave Powered Generator, designed to convert the motion of deep-ocean waves into electricity at industrial scale.

The company’s investment journey began with the recognition that commercialising a new form of renewable energy would require more than a strong technology. It would require a combination of patient capital, public funding, technical validation and a team capable of taking the technology from concept through to deployment.

Building the foundations

In its early stages, WaveX accessed government and innovation funding to support research, development and validation activities, including work undertaken with the University of Western Australia (UWA).

WaveX has also benefited from Western Australian innovation programs, including support through the Blue Gravity Ideastarter Fund, which helped the company progress areas such as market analysis and its competitive landscape.

This early non-dilutive funding played an important role in helping WaveX build the evidence base required to progress towards private investment.

The company subsequently completed extensive physical and numerical testing, with UWA testing helping to validate the performance of its technology. In 2024, WaveX was also awarded $2.4 million in Australian Government funding through the Cooperative Research Centres Projects (CRC-P) program, supporting its work with UWA and the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute.

For an emerging technology company, these milestones are critical: they help convert technical potential into evidence that investors, commercial partners and future customers can assess.

From technical validation to private investment

By 2025, WaveX had reached a significant transition point.

The company was seeking seed investment to fund the next stage of development - moving from scale-model testing towards a large-scale prototype capable of demonstrating electricity generation in real ocean conditions.

In June 2025, WaveX announced that it had reached 82% of its targeted seed raise, with the round supported by company directors, its CFO, existing investors, Perth Angels and other industry participants. The raise was being managed by LIQUIDITY.

The capital was intended to help fund the next major technical milestone: the construction and deployment of a large-scale Wave Powered Generator in Western Australia.

WaveX subsequently completed its capital raise, and the company has described the funding as an important step towards its large-scale pilot and first electricity generation.

The company's investment proposition has been underpinned by a combination of private capital and non-dilutive government support. Publicly available investment materials state that WaveX had secured more than $2.5 million in non-dilutive funding through government grants and R&D incentives, alongside its private capital raising.

This blended funding approach has enabled the company to progressively de-risk the technology while using private investment to accelerate commercialisation.

Investing in the next stage

For WaveX, the next phase is no longer simply about proving that wave energy can work.

It is about demonstrating that it can work at scale, in the ocean and as part of a commercially relevant energy system.

The company is progressing towards a large-scale pilot in Albany’s King George Sound, with the project being delivered in partnership with UWA and the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute. The pilot is designed to take WaveX’s technology from its current development stage towards larger-scale real-world demonstration.

WaveX says its technology is designed to complement rather than compete with established renewable generation, filling gaps in electricity production from wind and solar and contributing to a more diversified renewable energy system.

The company’s ambition extends well beyond a single demonstration project. WaveX has set a long-term goal of contributing enough wave-generated electricity to reduce global carbon emissions by 1% by 2050, equivalent to 105 GW of wave-powered electricity generation.

The role of investors in climate technology

WaveX’s story highlights a broader reality for investors considering emerging climate technologies.

The pathway from laboratory or tank testing to commercial deployment can require multiple forms of capital and support. Grants can help fund research and technical validation. Strategic and industry partners can contribute expertise and market access. Private investors can provide the capital required to move technologies through the more capital-intensive stages of development.

For WaveX, each stage of funding has helped unlock the next.

What began with an engineer’s vision to apply offshore expertise to one of the world's largest untapped renewable resources has developed into a Western Australian technology company backed by government funding, private investors, research institutions and an experienced offshore team.

As WaveX moves towards its large-scale pilot, the investment journey is becoming part of the story itself - demonstrating how capital can help take a promising piece of Australian innovation from concept, through validation, and towards commercialisation.

Simon Renwick, Founder and Managing Director of WaveX, said:

 “The journey from an idea to a technology that can be deployed in the ocean takes persistence, technical validation and the right people around the table. Our investors and funding partners have enabled us to take each step with greater confidence, and we are now focused on demonstrating our technology at scale here in Western Australia.”

WaveX is now entering one of the most significant stages of its development: taking its technology into the ocean and generating electricity at large scale.

For investors, it represents an opportunity to follow a technology through the difficult early stages of development - and to see what happens when Western Australian engineering capability, public funding, private capital and ocean innovation come together.

WA innovation. Investing with impact. Discover The Full Return.

About The Full Return

The Full Return showcases Western Australian innovation stories through the lens of financial and non-financial return on investment, demonstrating the value that can be created when capital backs ambitious businesses solving real-world challenges.

WaveX case study was project managed by the Hub Of Sustainability (HOSx), with Nexus Point Pictures responsible for video production and For Blue undertaking the research underpinning the story.

The project is funded by Meshpoints, supporting the development and promotion of compelling WA innovation stories and helping demonstrate the opportunities available to investors backing Western Australian businesses.

Project credits:
Project Management: Hub Of Sustainability (HOSx)
Research: For Blue
Video Production: Nexus Point Pictures
Funding: Meshpoints