News

Utilidata, a leader in embedded AI for power infrastructure, announced today that it has secured an additional $40 million in Series C funding. The round was led by existing investor Renown Capital Partners with participation from Keyframe Capital, completing the Series C at $100 million. The extension marks the second and final close of Utilidata’s Series C financing, following the company’s initial 

 led by Renown Capital in April 2025, with participation from Keyframe Capital, Quanta Services, and NVIDIA.

The funding will strengthen Utilidata's position to scale commercialization with hyperscalers and the data center market. The company's power orchestration platform, Karman, was developed in partnership with NVIDIA, and unlocks stranded capacity with real-time visibility and control of power utilization. Built on a custom NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano module, Karman is designed to be embedded at the rack level of data centers to manage rack power in real time, providing operators with high-speed visibility of power utilization.

“The AI infrastructure buildout is one of the defining themes of this decade, but power is a fundamental limitation,” said James McIntyre, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Renown Capital Partners. “Karman directly solves that problem by getting more out of the power that is available. We’re deepening our commitment to Utilidata because the market need is urgent, the technology is ready, and we are confident that the team has what it takes to deliver.”

Continued support from investors reflects growing recognition that AI growth depends on solving fundamental infrastructure problems. Power is the binding constraint. Interconnection queues stretch years and the increasing density of GPU compute creates power quality challenges that can push instability back onto the grid. The industry needs solutions that intelligently orchestrate power to maximize the performance of existing infrastructure, unlock stranded capacity, and enable denser deployments without causing issues on the grid. Karman smooths power fluctuations, reducing negative grid impacts that pose regulatory risks to data center interconnection and operations outlined in the recent 

 from North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC).

The Series C extension comes ahead of Utilidata’s 

first commercial deployment with NexGen Cloud

, which will go live in Montreal next month and target up to 50% additional usable capacity.

“We’ve believed in this team for a long time, and this round reflects our conviction that Karman is the breakthrough technology at exactly the right moment,” said John Rapaport, CIO, Keyframe Capital. “AI data centers can’t afford to wait for new power capacity. They need to maximize what they have now and that is exactly what Karman delivers.”

To support Utilidata’s next phase of growth, the company is expanding its executive leadership team with the addition of Kit Chee as Chief Commercial Officer. Kit joins the team to lead Utilidata’s commercial strategy, having previously scaled Intel’s cloud sales from $9B to $23B, secured several hyperscalers at Ampere, and helped shape the growth strategy for an ASEAN neocloud.

Along with the addition of Kit, Utilidata is increasing their workforce by 25% this year, many of which are based at their 

in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a new state-of-the-art 15,000-square-foot innovation lab with funding support from Governor Whitmer.

"Power availability is the defining constraint for data centers right now," said Josh Brumberger, CEO of Utilidata. "Karman squeezes every watt out of the power you already have, and makes every new megawatt you bring online work smarter. We're commercializing this at exactly the right moment, and we're grateful for the investors who've backed us to do it."

Utilidata Raises $40 Million Extension, Completing $100M Series C to Maximize AI Compute Capacity 

, a leader in embedded AI for power infrastructure, and 

, Europe’s leading AI cloud provider, today announced the deployment of the Karman AI power control platform across NexGen Cloud’s data centers.

The collaboration is designed to increase available AI compute capacity within existing grid constraints, targeting 50% additional usable capacity through intelligent GPU power orchestration and utilization of stranded energy. The initiative also strengthens infrastructure resilience by introducing real-time, AI-driven power optimisation at the rack level. Karman runs on a custom NVIDIA module and acts as the intelligence layer for next-generation power infrastructure, dynamically balancing performance, efficiency, and reliability across AI workloads.

The initial deployment is a showcase data center facility in Montreal before a broader rollout across NexGen Cloud’s European operations. For its enterprise customers, the partnership will enable NexGen Cloud’s full stack AI cloud platform, Hyperstack, to deliver more AI capacity, at a lower price, and with enhanced power-related services for its customers.

The partnership enables Hyperstack to drive superior energy performance through Karman as part of its ambitious secure private cloud expansion — including planned AI Factory deployments across North America and the Nordics, with capacity reaching hundreds of megawatts — and will extend these benefits to users of the Hyperstack on-demand compute service for AI, machine learning, and visualization applications.

“Power is the single biggest constraint for AI growth today. Billions of dollars of existing capacity are underutilized in data centers worldwide,” said Josh Brumberger, Utilidata CEO. “Karman unlocks that trapped capacity immediately while ensuring new data centers are optimized from day one. We’re excited to partner with NexGen Cloud, a neocloud that understands the urgency of maximizing today’s infrastructure and the enormous opportunity in building tomorrow’s most effectively.”

NexGen Cloud operates across Europe and North America, with infrastructure powered by 100% renewable energy across its European and Canadian data centers. NexGen Cloud, its parent company, is an NVIDIA Cloud Partner (NCP), positioning it at the forefront of European AI infrastructure. With Karman's embedded intelligence, NexGen Cloud will unlock massive capacity gains without waiting for grid upgrades or new electrical infrastructure.

"We now live in a world where 100MW+ projects are becoming commonplace. For infrastructure providers like NexGen Cloud servicing such projects, the next critical factor is energy management—specifically, maximizing the capacity already on-site. Karman gives us a significant commercial advantage by unlocking that trapped capacity; proving this level of optimization is a benefit we can then carry over directly to our end customers," said Chris Starkey, CEO of NexGen Cloud.

Utilidata’s custom module, co-developed with NVIDIA, provides the visibility, controls and safety mechanisms necessary to allow data center operators to fully utilize provisioned power capacity. By sampling at over 1 million times per second and responding with sub 20 millisecond latency, Karman sees and reacts as fast as the servers themselves, providing data-driven, software-defined safety mechanisms to deploy dramatically more GPUs within existing power infrastructure.

As data centers scale to meet AI demand, Karman complements NVIDIA's server-level optimizations with a parallel intelligence layer at the rack, row and building level. While GPUs optimize compute workloads, Karman optimizes electrical delivery, creating redundant, distributed visibility and control across both layers.

​​AI Data Center to Receive 50% Capacity Boost with AI Power Orchestration

, a pioneer in embedded AI for power infrastructure backed by NVIDIA, announced the opening of a new innovation lab that will also serve as its headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a region known as an epicenter for ingenuity and technology advancement. The new space will serve as the company’s primary hub for testing, product development, and collaboration with partners across the technology, AI, and energy sectors.

“Michigan is on the move and open for business, competing for and winning big projects in next-generation industries from cars to AI,” said 

. “Today’s announcement will create 25 new good-paying jobs and help cement Michigan as the best place for cutting-edge research and development that moves our nation forward. Let’s keep working together to show the world that Michigan is the best place to build the future.”

The move is supported by a $250,000 grant through the Michigan Business Development Program (MBDP), administered by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). The lab currently employs 18 staff members on site, accounting for 25% of Utilidata’s workforce, and is expected to create 25 new full-time jobs and strengthen partnerships with key local collaborators

The Ann Arbor headquarters includes dedicated distributed energy resources (DER) and data center labs that enable rapid prototyping and testing and will support the scaling of its autonomous power management platform, 

, across critical energy infrastructure. Utilidata’s team of engineers will use the expanded space to build hardware components, test new software and AI algorithms, with their main focus of testing Karman in data center servers. The data center lab currently houses NVIDIA B200 servers running AI workloads with Karman, allowing the team to measure system behavior under realistic compute conditions.

The DER lab will be configured to replicate modern electrified homes and businesses, with electric meters connected to battery storage systems, electric vehicles and rooftop solar. In this lab, the team will run demonstrations to test how Karman interacts with distributed energy devices, further refining how the platform can support grid reliability and enable utilities to better manage demands from increasing electrification.

“The focus around AI often assumes that growth requires more power. In reality, data centers already have significant unused capacity due to limitations in power infrastructure,” said 

. “Our focus is on helping operators safely and responsibly use the power they already have with high-resolution, real-time visibility and control. Our new headquarters was purpose-built to rapidly test and validate these capabilities, and to tap into Ann Arbor’s deep engineering and technology talent and accelerate our scale.”

Utilidata has maintained a presence in Michigan for several years, starting with its original 2,500-square foot innovation lab located in the Northern Brewery building, and working alongside local research institutions and technology partners to advance energy innovation. These efforts include projects with the University of Michigan’s Transportation Institute, Brooks Utility Partners, and Treetown Tech.In partnership with NVIDIA, Utilidata has built one of the smallest AI computing modules to easily embed in compact electrical devices to provide unparalleled visibility and power-flow control. The Ann Arbor headquarters will serve as a testing ground to demonstrate AI capabilities to support evolving power demands.

Utilidata’s Karman platform provides autonomous power management for AI data centers, enabling operators to better utilize the power already available to them. By embedding real-time visibility and control directly into power distribution equipment, Karman unlocks stranded capacity. The Karman platform is built on a custom NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano, and has been embedded into smart meters to bring real-time visibility and power-flow control to the electric grid.

Recent Stories

Reports

Press Releases

Videos