Data centers are facing a growing crisis. As AI worksloads balloons and streaming service scales, data center power demand is expected to more than double by 2030, reaching levels comparable to a country-wide level like Japan. challenge? Only half of that energy demand is expected to be met by renewables, and the industry’s carbon footprint will be under intense scrutiny.
Zendo Energy believes there is an answer.
The UK-based startup has developed what is described as an “energy OS.” This is software that helps data centers manage their energy usage more efficiently, reduce costs, and move away from fossil fuels. Today, the company announced it has raised £1.75 million in pre-seed funds to advance its vision.
The round was led by Fly Ventures, known for supporting Wayve in the early days, and included Octopus Ventures, Pact VC and Angels from the Data Center world.
Zendo Energy lands £1.75 million to tackle the AI energy crisis with predictive software for data centers
Zendo’s software tackles the messy intersection of unpredictable AI calculated loads and unstable renewable energy supply. Data center operators using the platform can forecast demand, adjust to energy price fluctuations, and reduce their reliance on carbon-heavy sources. The company claims that the model can reduce energy costs by up to 25%. This is a big deal for an industry where energy is the biggest operating expense.
“We’re committed to providing a range of services to our customers,” said Jade Batstone, CEO and co-founder of Zendo Energy. “These facilities are like WeWorks on servers. They source energy to enhance workloads for all tenants, but we have to make the best guess as to how these workloads evolve over time.”
Batstone, a Silicon Valley native and former product lead for Square and Swift, co-founded the company with Drew Barrett in 2024. Together, they bring experience from both the software and energy sectors. This is two worlds that are often desperately needed without mixing.
Barrett believes that data centers have more in common with energy suppliers than most people notice. “Their main cost is energy, and their revenues are primarily linked to the capacity they sell,” he said. “In many cases, energy costs are passed on to the end customers, so it’s important that these data centers be able to manage price volatility to protect margins and stay competitive in the market.”
AI doesn’t just strain energy use. It’s also becoming more difficult to plan. By 2030, AI could account for 70% of the total data center capacity, making it difficult for operators, especially colocation facilities with many tenants, to plan their power usage without visualizing their actual workloads.
Zendo’s software provides predictive analytics that helps operators track customer usage patterns and plan accordingly. It also helps to integrate renewable energy and identify unusable energy capacity that can be redirected or monetized.
“In this industry, costs and sustainability should not be confronted,” Barrett said. “It allows operators to make the most of their existing infrastructure and reduce the risk, cost and complexity of adopting renewable energy, allowing data centers to become heroes rather than the villains of the global clean energy transition.”
Octopus Ventures partner Kirsten Connell reflected that sentiment. “We are pleased to support Zendo Energy on their mission to decarbonise data centers. This is a globally changing issue and becomes more pressing as AI adoption continues to rise exponentially and requires exceptional founders to resolve it.”
Gabriel Matuschka, partner at Fly Ventures, added:
With £1.75 million in the bank, Zendo is strengthening its energy OS development and bringing new adoptions to meet demand. Batstone said the company is focusing on making it essential for a platform that is essential for data centers that want to respond to the surge in AI without exceeding energy budgets or planetary carbon limits.
“We will make our data centers smarter, more efficient and more capable of meeting the future of computing demand,” she said.
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