The round was led by deep tech VC Fly Ventures, an early investor in Wayve, alongside Octopus Ventures, Pact VC and several angel investors from the data centre sector.
The funding will support the British start-up to develop its software platform, which helps data centres handle unpredictable AI workloads.
This follows research revealing AI workloads are becoming harder to plan for and by 2030 could account for 70% of total data centre capacity.
As a result, Zendo claims its software can cut energy costs by up to 25% and make it easier for data centres to use renewable energy.
Zendo Energy, COO and co-founder, Drew Barrett, said: “Data centres are actually a lot like energy suppliers - their main cost is energy and their revenues are largely tied to the power capacity they sell.
“Since energy costs are often passed through to the end customer, being able to manage price volatility is critical for these data centres to protect their margins and maintain competitiveness in the market.
“Cost and sustainability should not be at odds in this industry,” said Drew. “By supporting operators to get the most out of their existing infrastructure and reduce the risk, cost and complexity of renewable energy adoption, we’re enabling data centres to be heroes rather than villains in the global clean energy transition.”
“Our mission is to decarbonise computing power,” added Jade Batstone, CEO and co-founder of Zendo Energy. “We empower data centres to become smarter, more efficient and ready for the future of computing demand”.
“With the backing of our fantastic investors, we see Zendo becoming an indispensable partner in energy planning and management to modern, flexible data centres around the world. It’s a very exciting time for the business.”
Gabriel Matuschka, partner at Fly Ventures, concluded: “Zendo is poised to drive a fundamental shift in how data centres evolve to meet future demand, addressing the industry’s key challenges of capacity constraints and decarbonisation head-on.
“We were impressed early-on by the team’s vision and their experience with some of the biggest names in renewables and B2B software. We believe their technology can unlock the next generation of data centre operations that are greener, more efficient and more profitable. It’s a pleasure to support them from the earliest stage of their journey.”
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