What Makai Ocean Engineering does

Makai Ocean Engineering, Inc. is a privately held ocean engineering and subsea technology company founded in 1973 in Waimanalo, Hawaii, with approximately 48 employees, of whom 27 hold advanced degrees (M.S. or greater), including several Ph.D.s and multiple Licensed Professional Engineers. The company operates three U.S. offices (Waimanalo headquarters, Kailua-Kona engineering/R&D, and Ventura operations) and delivers work globally across submarine telecommunications, defense, energy, and municipal infrastructure markets.

The company's commercial backbone is a three-product submarine cable software suite: MakaiPlan for GIS-based cable route planning, MakaiPlan Pro for 3D dynamic installation simulation at up to 50x real-time, and MakaiLay for real-time installation control using a proprietary 3D dynamic cable model. MakaiLay is licensed to over 80% of the global cable ship fleet and has been used to install more than 600,000 km of cable worldwide, with the software stack supplemented by Power, Seismic, and Repair modules. Beyond software, Makai has developed proprietary subsea hardware including the Thin Foil Heat Exchanger (TFHX), the patent-pending Remote Anchoring & MicroPiler (RAMP) system, Distributed Temperature Sensing Cable, and the passive Towed Cable Shape Control (SASS) system. The TFHX represents over 15 years and $30M+ in R&D investment and is targeted at OTEC, SWAC, and industrial thermal applications.

Makai generates revenue through a combination of software licensing (MakaiPlan/MakaiPlan Pro/MakaiLay, available via lease-to-own), proprietary technology licensing (TFHX, RAMP, S3 subsea 3D visualization), and professional engineering services delivered under federal contracts and commercial engagements. Major customers include the U.S. Navy, DARPA, the U.S. Army, and the Department of Energy on the federal side, and cable ship operators such as SubCom and E-marine, energy majors including Shell Technology's Marine Renewable Program, and global infrastructure clients such as ENWAVE Toronto, Burullus (Egypt), and Al-Jubail (Saudi Arabia) on the commercial side. Notable contract vehicles include a $45M Navy IDIQ for the Advanced Ocean Technology Program (AOTP) at NAVFAC EXWC and a $25M DARPA R3D artificial reef subcontract led by the University of Hawaii. The company is ISO 9001:2015 certified and has received multiple industry awards, including the SBA Tibbetts Award (2016) for SBIR commercialization.

Name

Makai Ocean Engineering

Legal name

Makai Ocean Engineering, Inc.

Website

https://makai.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1973

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Makai Ocean Engineering is a Hawaii-based ocean engineering firm founded in 1973 that develops submarine cable software (MakaiPlan, MakaiPlan Pro, MakaiLay — used by 80%+ of the global cable ship fleet), proprietary subsea hardware, and OTEC/SWAC technologies for defense, telecom, energy, and municipal clients worldwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Ocean Engineering & Subsea Technology Services

NAICS

Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical, and Nautical System and Instrument Manufacturing (334511)

SIC

Industrial Instruments For Measurement, Display, And Control (3823)

akta.pro primary industry

Project Management & Owner’s Engineering / Technical Consultancy (Spec Writing, Bid Support, Site Support) (IMAJAGAO)

akta.pro secondary industries

Production Design & Detailed Engineering (3D CAD, Drawings, BOM, Nesting) (IMAJAGAK), Submarine Systems & Components (Pressure Hull, Ballast, Life Support) (IMABAKAL), Marine & Offshore Wind BOP Construction (Foundations, Cables, Ports, Installation Support) (EUAMAFAI)

Keywords

• Submarine cable software
• Ocean engineering services
• Marine pipeline design
• Ocean thermal energy conversion
• Subsea hardware systems

Headquarters

HQ city

Kailua

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Submarine Cable Software Licenses and Services: Makai generates revenue from licensing its submarine cable software suite (MakaiPlan, MakaiPlan Pro, MakaiLay) and providing associated services including planning, simulation, installation support, and training. Software is sold to cable ship operators, commercial project owners, and federal agencies worldwide.
2. Thin Foil Heat Exchanger (TFHX) Technology: Makai licenses its TFHX technology and provides custom heat exchanger designs and fabrication. The technology serves marine, air-cooled, plants, and processing applications. Under MoU with Global OTEC, Makai will supply TFHX technology for integration into Global OTEC's OTEC Power Module.
3. Engineering Services and R&D: Makai provides custom engineering services including software development, thermal management design, subsea technology R&D, and offshore support. Services are provided to defense contractors, federal agencies, oil and gas industry, and commercial clients for marine construction, pipeline design, and hardware development.
4. Offshore Wind Engineering Services: Engineering services for offshore wind development including cable route planning, power cable installation, automatic route generation, and marine structure design. Part of growing renewable energy market focus alongside OTEC and SWAC.
5. Federal Government Contracts: Makai holds significant federal contracts including a $45M Navy IDIQ contract for the Advanced Ocean Technology Program (AOTP) at NAVFAC EXWC. Also performs DARPA-funded R&D projects and U.S. Department of Energy programs.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Makai Ocean Engineering provides custom ocean engineering services and licenses proprietary software and hardware for submarine cable installation, marine pipelines, and ocean-based renewable energy systems. Its flagship products are the MakaiPlan / MakaiPlan Pro / MakaiLay submarine cable software suite (used by 80%+ of the global cable ship fleet), the Thin Foil Heat Exchanger (TFHX), and the RAMP marine anchoring system, supported by R&D, design, and consulting services for federal, defense, and commercial clients worldwide.

Product overview

Makai Ocean Engineering offers a comprehensive suite of submarine cable software products and marine engineering solutions. The software portfolio includes three core products: MakaiPlan (cable route planning), MakaiPlan Pro (planning with 3D simulation), and MakaiLay (real-time at-sea cable installation control). These are supplemented by specialized modules for power cables, seismic operations, and repair operations. Beyond software, Makai provides proprietary hardware products including the Thin Foil Heat Exchanger (TFHX), Remote Anchoring & MicroPiler (RAMP) system, Distributed Temperature Sensing Cable, and Towed Cable Shape Control (SASS) system. The company also develops subsea 3D visualization software (S3) and MakaiPlan Digital Twins for Grids for power interconnection planning. Together, these products serve the submarine telecommunications, offshore wind, power cables, and oil and gas seismic markets, with MakaiLay used by over 80% of the global fiber-optic cable laying fleet.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• MakaiPlan Industry-leading submarine cable route planning software on a Windows GIS platform. Allows users to import project data, create and edit cable routes, define cables and inline bodies, adjust slack, generate Route Position Lists and Single Line Diagrams, and estimate installation costs. Used by cable operators and project owners for planning submarine telecom and power cables.
• MakaiPlan Pro 3D dynamic simulation software for submarine cable installations. Enables operators to simulate entire trans-oceanic cable lays at up to 50x faster than real-time, generate detailed Ship Plans for navigation and payout instructions, and integrate seamlessly with MakaiPlan and MakaiLay.
• MakaiLay Comprehensive PC-based real-time monitoring and control software for submarine cable installation. Computes accurate 3D dynamic cable shapes between ship and seabed using real-time vessel data; used by over 80% of the global cable ship fleet to install more than 600,000 km of cable worldwide.
• Thin Foil Heat Exchanger (TFHX) Proprietary heat exchanger technology constructed from stacked layers of proprietary plates using advanced manufacturing methods. Enables custom non-linear geometries, ultra-compact flow channels, and corrosion-resistant materials at 10 cm to 1 m scales for marine, air-cooled, plants, and processing applications including OTEC.
• Remote Anchoring & MicroPiler (RAMP) Drill-and-grout micropile system providing anchoring strength comparable to traditional methods at a fraction of material and installation costs. The drill rig weighs less than 30 tons, enabling installation from smaller vessels. Suitable for floating offshore wind, wave energy converters, OTEC, marine pipelines, and seabed cables (patent pending).
• Distributed Temperature Sensing Cable Tow cable with embedded optical fiber acting as a distributed sensor for measuring water column temperature as it is towed behind a vessel. Collects temperature data every second with less than 0.5°C error along any 0.5-meter segment, providing significantly more accurate real-time truth data than existing methods.
• Towed Cable Shape Control (SASS) Passive system providing consistent control of drag and lift to the aft end of tow cables. Straightens cables for improved performance without requiring power or communication systems integration, maintaining optimal control across various tow speeds and correcting straightness to within two-foot displacement.
• S3 Subsea 3D Visualization Software Subsea 3D visualization software that creates high-fidelity 3D seafloor environments from multi-modal subsea sensor data including Side Scan Sonar (SSS), Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS), Multi-beam Echo Sounders (MBES), and LiDAR. Developed under DARPA SBIR for mission planning, simulation, subsea infrastructure inspection, and autonomous underwater operations.
• MakaiPlan Digital Twins for Grids (MakaiDTG) Prototype GIS-based software for offshore and onshore renewable energy power interconnection planning. Developed in collaboration with Telos Energy to provide an integrated approach to renewable energy grid interconnection and address planning bottlenecks in offshore wind and other renewable projects.
• Marine Pipeline Engineering Services Design, analysis, and installation support for large-diameter HDPE marine pipelines including intakes, outfalls, and seawater supply systems. Serves power plants, desalination facilities, district cooling systems, and municipal water authorities (e.g., Burullus, Al-Jubail, ENWAVE Toronto, NELHA HOST Park).
• Marine Renewable Energy Engineering (OTEC, SWAC, Offshore Wind) Research, design, and engineering services for ocean-based renewable energy systems including Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), SeaWater Air Conditioning (SWAC), and offshore wind — from initial concept through plant engineering and grid interconnection planning.
• Custom Software Development Services Custom software development including Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning applications for subsea use cases. Covers mission planning, simulation, subsea infrastructure inspection, and autonomous underwater operations support for defense and commercial clients.
• Thermal Management Design Services Design and analysis services for thermal management systems including custom heat exchangers. Supports applications such as OTEC power plants, power plant condensers, district cooling, and industrial processing.
• Offshore Support Services Ship and equipment commissioning, procurement, and offshore deployment support for testing and operational missions. Provides technical support for offshore deployments and testing from Makai's Ventura, California office.
• Subsea Technology R&D Services Research and development of specialty subsea hardware systems including rapid prototyping, testing, and integration for defense and commercial marine markets. Delivered under SBIR/STTR programs and direct R&D contracts.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 600,000 km of submarine cable installed worldwide using Makai software
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

AI capability6 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Global OTECcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 August 2025Makai signed MoU with Global OTEC to integrate Makai's Thin Foil Heat Exchanger (TFHX) technology into Global OTEC's modular OTEC Power Module. This partnership combines Makai's four decades of OTEC research expertise with Global OTEC's floating platform technology to address high capital costs that have hindered OTEC scaling. The TFHX uses compact geometries and corrosion-resistant materials to lower costs while maintaining thermal efficiency and durability.
• North Carolina State UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2024Partnership with NCSU to address performance of micropiles in softer seabeds like sand. Results published addressing RAMP system performance in various seabed conditions.
• Shell Technology Marine Renewable ProgramcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2023Shell MRE partnered with Makai to enhance Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) technology. Makai was enlisted to de-risk and advance critical components of Shell's OTEC design. This builds on Makai's involvement since 1979 in OTEC development including the first net-power producing OTEC plant.
• Telos EnergyminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2023Makai team, in collaboration with Telos Energy, is developing MakaiPlan Digital Twins for Grids (MakaiDTG) - a GIS-based prototype software for offshore and onshore renewable energy power interconnection and planning.
• University of HawaiicoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2022Makai is subcontractor on $25M DARPA-funded project led by UH for Rapid Resilient Reefs for Coastal Defense (R3D). Makai leads system construction and deployment of reef-mimicking structures designed to protect coastlines from erosion and flooding while fostering coral growth. UH's team also includes UC San Diego and Florida Atlantic University.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• SubCom: SubCom is a leading submarine cable installer and systems supplier that both uses Makai's planning software and competes for submarine cable engineering and installation work. Direct overlap in submarine cable route planning, installation services, and undersea project delivery to telecom and power cable customers.
• Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN): ASN designs, manufactures, and installs submarine cable systems globally. Comparable to Makai as a submarine cable systems provider serving the same telecom and power utility customers with end-to-end cable engineering and installation capabilities.
• EIVA: EIVA develops subsea survey and cable route planning software (e.g., NaviPac, NaviSuite) that directly competes with MakaiPlan in route planning, and cable lay planning workflows for offshore survey and installation contractors.

Emerging players

• Global OTEC: Global OTEC is a floating OTEC platform developer with whom Makai has signed an MoU to integrate TFHX heat exchangers into modular OTEC Power Modules. Comparable emerging player focused on commercializing ocean thermal energy conversion.
• Bluerise: Bluerise is a Dutch OTEC and SWAC technology developer focused on commercializing ocean thermal and seawater cooling systems. Comparable emerging player pursuing the same clean ocean energy and cooling markets where Makai's TFHX and SWAC expertise apply.
• Hexagon (Nautilus & HIPS/SIPS product lines): Hexagon's hydrographic and cable route survey software (e.g., HIPS/SIPS, Navigator) competes with MakaiPlan for submarine cable planning and survey workflows. Provides overlapping capabilities in subsea data processing and route planning.

Broad incumbents

• Worley: Worley (including WorleyParsons) is a large global engineering and project delivery firm with submarine cable, subsea pipeline, offshore wind, and marine engineering practices that overlap with Makai's design and engineering service offerings.
• Subsea 7: Subsea 7 is a major subsea engineering, construction, and services contractor that performs offshore cable laying, pipeline installation, and offshore wind work comparable to Makai's cable installation and pipeline engineering services.
• DEME Group: DEME is a global offshore contractor with significant offshore wind foundation, cable installation, and balance-of-plant construction capabilities that overlap with Makai's offshore wind engineering and subsea cable route planning work.
• Jan De Nul: Jan De Nul is an offshore contractor with major submarine cable installation, offshore wind foundation, and seabed preparation capabilities. Comparable as a broad incumbent in offshore cable and marine engineering delivery.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/makaioceaneng
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/MakaiOceanEngineer
• Facebookfacebook.com/makaioceanengineering
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/makai-ocean-engineering-inc-

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles17 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Makai Ocean Engineering