Data centers in the U.S. use 17 to 19 billion gallons of water each year to cool the chips they operate, and according to the Water Foundation, that amount is expected to triple over the next five years.
This is an expensive and politically difficult proposition for investors who are plowing billions into the challenge of scaling up AI. One way to reduce water usage is to better monitor your coolant. Currently, this work involves sending samples to a lab for testing in a multi-day process.
Omen AI was founded in 2024 to solve that problem. The company is building real-time sensors to determine if a valve is malfunctioning or if bacteria growth in the system threatens to clog the water flow. After raising $31 million in Series A funding in June, Omen is currently acquiring competitor Aquatic Labs in a $16 million cash and stock deal.
The deal came together after Omen founder Zach Laberge was introduced to Aquatic Labs CEO Allan Adams by an investor in the filtration space. Both startups were building real-time water sensors using complementary technologies. Omen’s sensors detected elements in the water, and Aquatic Labs’ sensors tested alkalinity.
Incorporating these two technologies into the same sensor creates a “richer picture of water and fluids,” while also unifying the vision of automating processes that were previously time-consuming and manual, Adams told TechCrunch.
This combination brings together two typical types of founders. Mr. LaBarge dropped out of high school to pursue his first company. The company was performing similar fluid analysis for large construction equipment that relies on hydraulics. Adams is an academic by training as a physicist, and prior to founding his company, he spent much of his career developing advanced ocean sensing technologies as a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a researcher at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Now, with Adams as the company’s chief scientific officer, the integration team is working on integrating both technologies into one sensor, expected to be on the market by early next year. Omen’s initial sensors will monitor chips that will capture 250 to 300 MW of power, worth about $5 billion to $7 billion, by the end of the year, and hopes to power 1 GW worth of chips by the end of 2027, Laberge told TechCrunch.
The added value is in uptime. When fluid systems fail, data center operators typically choose to dump the water rather than risk damage to expensive equipment. This means shutting down operations until the fluid system is restored, which can be costly. Monitoring allows data center operators to use the same fluid for extended periods of time, minimizing cleaning costs.
Adams hopes his company’s technology will have an impact beyond the data center, telling TechCrunch, “Water goes into the data center, and then it comes out and gets dumped into the city’s water supply. We want that whole process to be done in the safest and most responsible way possible. That means we need to measure things.”
AI companies once estimated that up to $4 trillion would be spent on AI infrastructure by 2030, but some investors have grown skeptical of the ramp-up and hyperscaler stocks have tumbled in recent days. But Oomen’s team isn’t worried about the change in sentiment, as work will begin after the data center is built.
“We’re working on things that our customers are currently building or have already built, so it doesn’t really affect us because these projects are all funded 12 months in advance,” Laberge said. “Our view is that even if it gets tight, even if you cut it in half, this will still be the largest market in human history.”
If you make a purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This does not affect editorial independence.
