Emerald AI has raised $150 million in an oversubscribed Series A financing at a $1.05 billion valuation to scale technology that enables AI data centers to dynamically adjust their electricity consumption based on grid conditions. Energize Capital and DCVC co-led the round, which also included a broad group of strategic and financial investors spanning the AI, energy and industrial sectors.
Participants included NVIDIA, Samsung Ventures, Siemens, Aramco Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, GE Vernova, RWE, JERA Ventures, ADVentures, Sabanci Climate Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Radical Ventures, Energy Impact Partners, Lowercarbon Capital, Marunouchi Innovation Partners, Emerson Collective, The Olayan Group, the Temerty Group, John Doerr, Tom Steyer, Earthshot Ventures, Collective Global and General Catalyst’s scout fund.
Emerald AI now counts 12 Fortune Global 500 companies among its investors and Strategic Advisory Board participants.
The financing follows five demonstrations of Emerald AI’s technology at commercial data centers and comes as the company moves from testing into large-scale commercial deployments.
Its Emerald Conductor software platform coordinates AI computing workloads and onsite energy resources to dynamically control a data center’s power consumption when the electric grid is under stress.
The technology is designed to reduce or shift electricity demand without compromising critical AI workloads.
Emerald AI’s broader thesis is that data centers do not need to operate as fixed loads consuming approximately the same amount of electricity regardless of grid conditions.
Instead, the company wants AI infrastructure to function as a flexible resource that can respond to changing power availability.
That capability could become increasingly important as electricity emerges as one of the primary constraints on construction of new AI infrastructure.
Building new transmission, generation and grid infrastructure can take many years, while data center electricity consumption is projected to represent a significant portion of U.S. demand growth through 2030.
Emerald AI estimates that applying flexible-load technology across the AI infrastructure buildout could unlock more than 100 GW of currently untapped capacity on the existing U.S. power grid.
The company argues that this capacity could become available years before equivalent amounts of new generation and transmission infrastructure could be developed.
Emerald AI has completed five demonstrations at commercial data centers in Arizona, Illinois, Virginia, Oregon and London.
Those projects involved partners including NVIDIA, EPRI, Oracle, Nebius and National Grid, along with regional utilities and grid operators.
Following those demonstrations, Emerald AI has moved into commercial deployment.
The company recently deployed its technology across an entire California data center, demonstrating grid-responsive power flexibility during periods of peak electricity demand.
Emerald AI is also working with Silicon Valley Power on what the companies describe as a first-of-its-kind Flexible Load Interconnection Program.
Under that model, data centers can receive expanded access to the grid in exchange for providing verified and dispatchable flexibility when the electricity system requires relief.
Another major deployment is underway in Manassas, Virginia, where Emerald AI is working with Digital Realty and NVIDIA on a nearly 100 MW Vera Rubin AI Research Factory.
The project is being developed as a power-flexible AI facility and has been tested in collaboration with EPRI, Dominion and PJM Interconnection.
The facility is expected to come online later this year.
Emerald AI said it now serves customers throughout the AI power ecosystem, including electric utilities, AI companies and global data center operators.
Additional large-scale deployments are planned later in 2026.
The Series A capital will be used to expand commercial deployments globally as the company works with customers building new AI infrastructure and utilities attempting to accommodate rapidly rising electricity demand.
Emerald AI is positioning software-based load flexibility as a way to accelerate data center interconnections without waiting for years of conventional grid expansion.
The approach could also help utilities manage periods of peak demand by temporarily reducing flexible computing loads rather than requiring every megawatt of data center capacity to be available continuously.
For AI companies, that model could provide access to larger amounts of electricity sooner while maintaining capacity for workloads that cannot be interrupted.
Emerald AI’s commercial expansion follows growing interest from both technology companies and power providers in using software to coordinate computing demand with available generation.
KEY QUOTES:
“We founded Emerald AI on the conviction that the intelligence driving the AI revolution could solve its own greatest bottleneck: power. Our demonstrations around the world proved that data centers can adjust their power use precisely when the grid needs relief, without compromising critical computing workloads. Today that technology runs commercially at full data center scale, and this financing lets us take it everywhere AI is built, so the AI era can accelerate while the grid becomes more reliable and more affordable for the communities it serves.”
Dr. Varun Sivaram, Founder And CEO Of Emerald AI
“The binding constraint on AI is no longer chips or capital; it is power, and software is the fastest way through it. Emerald AI has converted world-class research into commercial deployments faster than any company we have seen in this category, and we are proud to co-lead this round as the team defines how AI infrastructure and the grid grow together.”
John Tough, Managing Partner At Energize Capital
“Emerald AI’s compute workload orchestration platform makes flexibility a permanent feature of how data centers are powered. This turns data centers into grid-responsive assets instead of energy-hogging liabilities, increasing America’s strength in AI, decreasing rises in electrical bills for communities, and protecting the environment. This is deep tech at its best.”
Zachary Bogue, Co-Founder And Managing Partner Of DCVC
