Emerald AI raises $150M Series A at $1.05B to tame data-center power demand
What's the deal? Emerald AI has raised $150 million in a Series A round that values the two-year-old startup at $1.05 billion. DCVC and Energize CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → co-led the round, with Nvidia, Samsung VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, GE VernovaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Salesforce Ventures also participating.
What does it do? Emerald's software helps data centers flex their power consumption based on requests from utilities, cutting usage at peak times and tapping excess capacity when it's available. Its product runs on AI agents that autonomously decide how operators and their customers should shift power loads.
Why now? The AI build-out is straining grids and fuelling a backlash against new data centers across the US. Silicon Valley PowerDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, which serves roughly 55 data centers across 20 square miles, recently enlisted Emerald as one solution. "All the spare capacity we may have had in the past has all been spoken for," said utility director Nicolas Procos.
The context: The round sits in the top 1% of US technology Series A deals over the trailing 48 months, based on a sample of 63 comparable rounds. Nvidia's stake is another example of how the chip giant is financing the growth of the AI economy.
How it makes money: Emerald takes a cut of the extra power sales it enables for utilities, and a cut of the added revenue when it helps operators and their customers — AI labs and hyperscalers — shift workloads.
Where it stands: The company has tested its product at five data centers with partners including Nvidia and OracleDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and now holds two contracts in California and Virginia. It was founded in 2024 by chief executive Varun Sivaram, a renewable energy veteran and former Biden administration climate official. Early backers include former Secretary of State John Kerry and GoogleDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → veteran Jeff Dean.
The signal: Investors are betting that energy — not just chips — is the binding constraint on AI's growth. As Energize Capital's John Tough put it: "You can't deliver compute without energy." Sivaram's stated goal is to make data centers grid-flexible and, in the process, "transform them from villains into heroes."
Read more: The New York Times
Image credit: Emerald AI
