Hey, Gabe Newell might be your man here. But it's not for profit.

https://luxurylaunches.com/transport/gabe-newell-explorer-ve...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/deajusufi/2026/06/13/gabe-newel...

SpaceX serves a large market that was underserved, via Starlink, and via satellite launches.

There's nothing comparably easy (for some values of "easy") to monetize underwater, except in shallow places like the continental shelves, and these areas are already being heavily developed (oil, wind).

There are many, many wonders deep underwater, but they are mostly not commercially interesting, alas.

That's what OceanGate of imploding submarine fame was trying to be.

I’ve always wanted to start a company that builds automated underwater swarms of “probes” that just search and return info and carry out small exploration tasks but over long amounts of time and space.

Do it right and you can send the first underwater explorers to Europa.

Hard to find the right way to monetize in the early stages though. SpaceX had a variety of options.

>I feel like maybe we've needed an "OceanX" before a "SpaceX"

SpaceX is based on the idea that our planet will someday be uninhabitable, so we need to be ready to colonize other planets. The sooner we start, the sooner we get there.

OceanX might be fun science, but it's not going to save us.

Given humans' propensity for ruthless exploitation with disastrous side effects on the environment, I'd rather not.