Emerald AI Launches with $24.5M Seed Round to Transform AI Data Centers into Grid Allies

Breakthrough software addresses critical energy bottleneck challenging America's AI infrastructure leadership

WASHINGTON, July 1, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Emerald AI announced its official launch, unveiling the results of its first commercial demonstration and $24.5 million in seed funding led by Radical Ventures, with participation from NVentures (NVIDIA's venture capital arm), AMPLO, CRV, and Neotribe. Emerald AI is also backed by an array of notable individual investors, including Google Chief Scientist Jeff Dean, former Secretary of State John Kerry, former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, AI pioneer Professor Fei-Fei Li, and Kleiner Perkins Chairman John Doerr.

"Emerald AI transforms data centers from grid liabilities into flexible assets," - CEO Dr. Varun Sivaram

The company's breakthrough AI software addresses an emerging challenge: the electric power system must keep up with AI's soaring energy demand. New US data centers seek 50-100 GW of additional power by 2030, but the deep deficit in available power grid interconnections will stunt AI innovation and U.S. competitiveness. Without new solutions, the North American grid reliability regulator has warned that this increased demand challenges power system stability, while massive investments to build electricity infrastructure over the coming decades raise energy prices for American communities.

"We're at a critical inflection point as exponential growth of AI computing pressures our electrical infrastructure," said Emerald AI founder and CEO Dr. Varun Sivaram. "To unshackle AI technology progress from power constraints, Emerald AI transforms data centers from grid liabilities into flexible assets, enabling grid operators to swiftly interconnect AI, bolster reliability and energy security, and more efficiently harness the massive spare capacity on today's grids."

Emerald AI has assembled a world-class team led by Dr. Sivaram, a former Fortune 500 C-suite energy executive, senior U.S. diplomat, Rhodes Scholar, and physicist. The leadership team also includes Boston University Professor Ayse Coskun, a pioneer in flexible AI and high-performance computing, Shayan Sengupta, who brings two decades of hyperscale cloud and AI leadership from industry giants like Amazon and Intel, and Aroon Vijaykar, former energy executive at Sunrun and chief executive of AEE Solar.

The Emerald AI Conductor software platform orchestrates AI workloads in real-time, enabling data centers to dynamically adjust their energy consumption and support grid stability while assuring acceptable AI compute performance. By intelligently managing energy consumption through software, AI data centers can bypass grid interconnection queues that can stretch 7-10 years or more.

"Emerald AI's approach accelerates AI deployment while simultaneously enhancing grid reliability and shielding consumers from escalating energy costs," said former Secretary of Commerce and Emerald AI Advisor Gina Raimondo. "Enabling faster innovation without putting additional strain on our existing power systems is critical for maintaining America's competitive edge in AI development." 

"AI is driving unprecedented demand for energy. Without a solution to flexibly service that demand, innovation slows," said John Doerr, Kleiner Perkins Chairman. "Emerald AI's technology can unlock up to 100 GW of untapped grid capacity by harnessing the infrastructure we already have. Emerald AI's transformational software turns AI data centers from grid stressors to grid supporters."

The implications extend far beyond technology. "America cannot win the AI race without sufficient power," said former Secretary of State John Kerry. "Emerald AI's software delivers immediate impact that unlocks further AI innovation while best utilizing today's electricity resources."

Emerald AI's technology is already proving effective in major, real-world demonstrations. Today, Emerald AI released results of a first-of-its-kind demonstration as part of EPRI's DCFlex Initiative in Phoenix, Arizona alongside partners including Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), NVIDIA, EPRI, and the regional power utility Salt River Project (SRP). Emerald AI's Conductor platform demonstrated that an AI compute cluster of GPUs in a commercial data center can reduce power consumption by 25% for 3 hours as a precise response to critical periods of grid stress such as a summer system peak load event, while assuring acceptable customer performance for AI workloads. Alongside its partners, Emerald AI is preparing for even larger-scale demonstrations in Phoenix and around the country.

"The next 6-12 months will determine the gold standard for grid-responsive computing, and we're confident Emerald AI is uniquely positioned to set that standard," shared Rob Toews, Radical Ventures Partner.

Emerald AI, a member of the NVIDIA Inception program for startups, is also backed by BCG Chairman Rich Lesser, Google Chief Sustainability Officer Kate Brandt, Three Cairns co-founder Mark Gallogly, Galvanize Co-Chair Tom Steyer, Crusoe CEO Chase Lochmiller, Weights and Biases CEO Lukas Biewald, and other distinguished investors.

About Emerald AI

Emerald AI is the pioneer in AI-driven compute orchestration, transforming energy-intensive data centers into intelligent grid assets. Its AI-powered Conductor platform enables data centers to dynamically adjust power consumption by orchestrating AI workloads, such as training, fine-tuning, and inference, across networks of data centers in real-time. For more information, visit www.emeraldai.co.

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SOURCE Emerald AI