Meet CudaJet: An all-electric underwater jetpack propelling sea exploration down 40 meters
“The world’s first underwater jetpack?” Yes, please. A UK company called CudaJet is making sustainable sea exploration faster and more efficient with a revamped hydrodynamic underwater jetpack for 2025. We would love to get our hands on one, but we may need crowdfunding to afford one; learn more below.
CudaJet is an R&D and manufacturing company specializing in high-end water sports products designed, engineered, and manufactured in-house at its facilities in England. Working with over 45 British suppliers, CudaJet has already launched its flagship product, called the Underwater Jetpack.
Yes, CudaJet was able to trademark that name, offering some clout to its claims to have created the world’s first such vessel. Electrified marine exploration is not new, however. We’ve seen plenty of handheld underwater propulsion, whether in fictional movies or at boat shows. Take Seabob, for example.
However, this is the first time we’ve seen all-electric jet propulsion that straps to your back. It looks like something James Bond would wear, so it’s appropriate that an English company has developed it. Regardless, the Underwater Jetpack from CudaJet is an exciting toy designed for the ultra-rich.
Check out the Underwater Jetpack in action
Each CudaJet UnderWater Jetpack is made to order using injection molding, then painted and decaled by hand. The harness is made of heavy-duty fabric on the outside and high-grade limestone neoprene around the body. At the same time, the back panel incorporates a carbon fiber skeleton to remain stiff as the jetpack propels you forward.
Each Underwater Jetpack features a permanently wired controller, so there is no risk of loss or a broken signal. The ergonomic controller features a full-color, hardened display that shows your performance, battery levels, and current depth.
CudaJet says that every UnderWater Jetpack leaves its UK production facility with a safety depth limit set to three meters. If you venture below that set safety depth, the jetpack motor will automatically cut out and float you back to the surface. However, in the controller’s settings, you can set the safety depth limit as low as 40 meters. Here are some more performance specs:
- Max Speed – 3 meters per second (~6.7 mph)
- Jetpack Size – 495mm x 306mm x 200mm
- Jetpack Weight – 14kg (~31 lbs.)
- Max Depth – 40 meters
- Safety Depth Limit – 3 meters from factory (adjustable in settings)
- Run Time – 90 mins
- Charge Time – 75 mins
- Harness Size – Chest 32″ to 60″ (81cm to 152cm)
- Harness Weight – 1.5kg to 1.7kg (3.3 to 3.8 lbs.)
- Total Buoyancy – 65N to 85N
CudaJet founder and CEO Archie O’Brien put over 30,000 hours of development into the UnderWater Jetpack, so the company knows its target audience – superyacht owners looking for fun new toys to show off at sea. As such, the 2025 version of the CudaJet starts at $30,621 and includes the Underwater Jetpack, controller, one harness, hard carrying case, fast charger, and a two-year warranty.
For the ultra-luxe, CudaJet is also offering an exclusive Founder’s Edition of the Underwater Jetpack, of which 15 of the 20 being produced are still available. It includes the following:
- A uniquely numbered product with registration documents and official CudaJet information
- Obtain a lifetime “first access” to all future products
- In water training from CudaJet founder Archie O’Brien, “professionally filmed for a lifetime memory”
- 3x Harness’ of any size
- 1 Hard Case
- 1 Controller
- 1 Fast Charger
- Lifetime Warranty
CudaJet is not sharing the price for the Founder’s Edition online, but we’d wager it costs a pretty penny more than the $30k standard model. We’ve gotta admit, though, the black and gold on the Founder’s Edition looks sleek. Perhaps one day CudaJet will let us test one out and report back. Until then, here’s some footage from the company demonstrating how this unique Underwater Jetpack Works:
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Enbridge is going big on solar again in Texas, and Meta is snapping up all the solar power it can get.
Last month, Electrek reported that the Canadian oil and gas pipeline giant just launched its first solar farm in Texas. Now it’s given the green light to Clear Fork, a 600 megawatt (MW) utility-scale solar farm already under construction near San Antonio. The project is expected to come online in summer 2027.
Once it’s up and running, every bit of Clear Fork’s electricity will go to Meta Platforms under a long-term contract. Meta will use the solar power to help run its energy-hungry data centers entirely on clean energy.
The solar farm project’s cost is around $900 million. Enbridge says it expects Clear Fork to boost the company’s cash flow and earnings starting in 2027.
Enbridge EVP Matthew Akman said the project reflects “growing demand for renewable power across North America from blue-chip companies involved in technology and data center operations.”
Meta’s head of global energy, Urvi Parekh, added that the company is “thrilled to partner with Enbridge to bring new renewable energy to Texas and help support our operations with 100% clean energy.”
Meta’s first multi-gigawatt data center, Prometheus, is expected to come online in 2026.
Clear Fork is part of a growing trend: tech giants like Meta, Amazon, and Google are racing to lock down renewable energy contracts as they expand their fleets of AI-ready data centers, which use massive amounts of electricity.
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A fully electric Japanese electric pickup truck? It’s not a Toyota or Honda, but Isuzu’s new electric pickup packs a punch. The D-MAX EV can tow over 7,770 lbs (3,500 kg), plow through nearly 24″ (600 mm) of water, and it even has a dedicated Terrain Mode for extreme off-roading. However, it comes at a cost.
Meet Isuzu’s first electric pickup: The D-MAX EV
After announcing that it had begun building left-hand drive D-MAX EV models at the end of April, Isuzu said that it would start shipping them to Europe in the third quarter.
By the end of the year, Isuzu will begin production of right-hand drive models for the UK. Sales will follow in early 2026.
Isuzu announced prices this week, boasting the D-MAX EV features the same “no compromise durability” of the current diesel version.
The D-MAX EV pickup features a full-time 4WD system, a towing capacity of up to 3.5 tons (7,700 lbs), and an added Terrain Mode, which Isuzu says is designed for “extreme off-road capability.” With 210 mm (8.3″) of ground clearance, Isuzu’s electric pickup can wade through up to 600 mm (24″) of water.
Powered by a 66.9 kWh battery, Isuzu’s electric pickup offers a WLTP range of 163 miles. With charging speeds of up to 50 kW, the D-MAX EV can recharge from 20% to 80% in about an hour.
The electric version is nearly identical to the current diesel-powered D-Max, both inside and out, but prices will be significantly higher.
| Isuzu D-Max EV specs and prices | |
| Drive System | Full-time 4×4 |
| Battery Type | Lithium-ion |
| Battery Capacity | 66.9 kWh |
| WLTP driving range | 163 miles |
| Max Output | 130 kW (174 hp) |
| Max Torque | 325 Nm |
| Max Speed | Over 130 km/h (+80 mph) |
| Max Payload | 1,000 kg (+2,200 lbs) |
| Max Towing Capacity | 3.5t (+7,700 lbs) |
| Ground Clearance | 210 mm |
| Wading Depth | 600 mm |
| Starting Price (*Ex. VAT) | £59,995 ($81,000) |
Isuzu’s electric pickup will be priced from £59,995 ($81,000), not including VAT. The double cab variant starts at £60,995 ($82,500). In comparison, the diesel model starts at £36,755 ($50,000).
The EV pickup will launch in extended and double cab variants with two premium trims: the eDL40 and V-Cross. Pre-sales will begin later this year with the first UK arrivals scheduled for February 2026. Customer deliveries are set to follow in March.
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In this photo illustration, Claude AI logo is seen on a smartphone and Anthropic logo on a pc screen. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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OpenAI and Anthropic continue to lead a fundraising bonanza in artificial intelligence, raising historic rounds and stratospheric valuations.
But when it comes to finding AI exits for venture firms, the market looks a lot different.
AI startups raised $104.3 billion in the U.S. in the first half of this year, nearly matching the $104.4 billion total for 2024, according to PitchBook. Almost two-thirds of all U.S. venture funding went to AI, up from 49% last year, PitchBook said.
The biggest deals follow a familiar theme. OpenAI raised a record $40 billion in March in a round led by SoftBank. Meta poured $14.3 billion into Scale AI in June as part of a way to hire away CEO Alexandr Wang and a few other top staffers. OpenAI rival Anthropic raised $3.5 billion, while Safe Superintelligence, a nascent startup started by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, raised $2 billion.
While Meta’s massive investment into Scale AI amounted to a lucrative exit of sorts for early investors, the overarching trend has been a lot more money going in than coming out.
In the first half, there were 281 VC-backed exits totaling $36 billion, according to PitchBook. That includes the roughly $700 million acquisition of EvolutionIQ, an AI platform for disability and injury claims management, by CCC Intelligent Solutions, and the public listing of Slide Insurance, which builds AI-powered insurance offerings for homeowners. Slide is valued at about $2.3 billion.
“The dominant exit trend right now is frequent but lower-value acquisitions and fewer IPOs with significantly higher value,” said Dimitri Zabelin, PitchBook’s senior research analyst for AI and cybersecurity.
CoreWeave’s IPO, which took place at the very end of the first quarter, was the exception on the infrastructure side. The stock shot up 340% in the second quarter, and the company is now valued at over $63 billion.
Zabelin said the pattern of more investments in applications with smaller deals has been in place for the past year.
“Vertical solutions tend to plug more easily into existing enterprise gaps,” Zabelin said.
The acquisitions wave is being driven, in part, by what Zabelin calls bolt-on deals where larger companies buy smaller startups to enhance their own future valuations, hoping to enhance their value ahead of a future sale or IPO.
“That also has to do with the current liquidity conditions in the macro environment,” Zabelin said.
Outside of AI, activity is slow. U.S. fintech funding dropped 42% in the first half of the year to $10.5 billion, according to Tracxn. Cloud software and crypto have also seen sharp pullbacks.
Zabelin said IPO activity could pick up if economic conditions improve and if interest rates come down. Investors clearly want opportunities to back promising AI companies, he said.
“The appetite for AI, specifically vertical applications, will continue to remain robust,” Zabelin said.
— CNBC’s Kevin Schmidt contributed to this report.
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