Omen AI adds liquid know-how in $16 million Aquatic Labs acquisition; plus, Northwood Space raises $375M Series C at a $2B valuation

0:01This is TechCrunch.

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0:50So you can focus on other important things, like savoring that last bit of pumpkin pie. From early startups to Fortune 500 companies, thousands are turning to Framer to build a website they'll love. Learn how you can get more out of your site from a Framer specialist or get started building for free today at framer.com slash tcstartups for 30 % off a Framer Pro annual plan. That's framer.com slash tcstartups for 30 % off. Rules and restrictions may apply. U.S. data centers use 17 to 19 billion gallons of water to cool their hot running chips each year. And that number is expected to triple in the next five years.

1:35That's according to the Water Foundation. That is an expensive and politically tricky proposition for investors throwing billions of dollars at the challenge of scaling up AI. Now, one way to use less water is to do a better job monitoring the cooling fluids, a task that currently involves sending samples away to a laboratory for tests in a multi-day process. Omen AI was founded in 2024 to solve that problem. The company is building a real-time sensor to determine whether valves were failing or if bacteria growth in the system threatened to choke off water flow. After raising a$31 million Series A back in June, Omen is now acquiring competitor Aquatic Labs in a$16 million cash and stock deal.

2:24The deal came together after Omen founder Zach LaBerge was introduced to Aquatic Labs CEO Alan Adams by an investor in the filtration space. Both startups were building real-time water sensors with complementary technology. Oman's sensors looked for elements in the water, while the aquatic lab's sensor tests its alkalinity. Putting those two technologies in the same sensor creates a much richer picture of the water and the fluid, says Adams, while uniting their vision of automating what had previously been a slow manual process. The combination unites two classic species of founder. LaBerge dropped out of high school to pursue his first company, which did similar fluid analysis for large construction machines that depend on hydraulics.

3:16Adams was an academic, trained as a physicist, who spent much of his career developing advanced ocean sensing technology as an MIT professor and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute researcher before starting his company. Now, with Atoms as the company's chief science officer, the combined teams are working to integrate both technologies into one sensor, which they expect to have on the market by early next year. Oman's initial sensors will be monitoring chips pulling in 250 to 300 megawatts of power by the end of the year, worth about$5 to$7 billion, with the hope of being installed on the equivalent of one gigawatt of chips by the end of 2027.

3:59Now, the added value is in uptime. If the fluid systems get out of whack, data center operators typically choose to dump the water rather than risk damage to their expensive equipment. That means shutting down operations until the fluid system is restored, which costs a lot of money. Monitoring lets data center operators use the same fluid for longer and minimize the costs of a cleanup. Adams hopes to see their technologies have an impact outside of data centers as well, telling TechCrunch that water goes into data centers and then it comes out and gets dumped into municipal water, and you want that whole process to happen in a way that's as safe and responsible as possible.

4:39And that means you gotta measure stuff. AI companies once estimated as much as$4 trillion would be spent on AI infrastructure by 2030, but some investors have grown skeptical of the build-out, sending hyperscaler stocks plummeting in recent days. Oman's team is not worried about shifting sentiment, though, since their work comes after a data center has been built.

5:08Space infrastructure company Northwood Space said on Monday it had raised$375 million in a Series Sea Round, co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and DFJ Growth, valuing the company at$2 billion. Founded back in 2022, Northwood builds antennas, software, and other technologies that help satellites communicate better with Earth. Bridget Mendler, co-founder and a former actress, serves as its CEO. The company last raised a$100 million Series B in January, also co-led by Andreessen Horowitz, along with a nearly$50 million contract with the U.S. Space Force to upgrade the nation's satellite control network.

5:53This latest round also includes a financial agreement with HSBC that, along with the funding, will be used to scale the company, hire, and fulfill existing contracts. That's all for now. For the latest in startup tech news, go to techcrunch.com.

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