London-based startup Zendo Energy raises €2 million to help data centres decarbonise and adapt to AI boom

Zendo Energy, a British startup building the first ‘Energy OS’ to decarbonise computing power in data centres, today announces it has raised €2.07 million in a pre-Seed funding round to develop a platform that enables data centres to adapt to AI workloads while navigating volatile energy markets.

The round was led by Fly Ventures, a DeepTech VC firm that was a first cheque investor in UK autonomous driving unicorn Wayve. Fly is joined by Octopus Ventures and Pact VC who also participated in the round, as well as angel investors from the data centre industry.

“These facilities are like WeWorks for servers,” said Jade Batstone, CEO and Co-founder of Zendo Energy. “They’re procuring energy to power all of their tenants’ workloads, but they’re having to make their best guess at how these workloads will evolve over time.”

Founded in 2024, Zendo was co-founded by CEO Jade Batstone and COO Drew Barrett. The pair bring over two decades of experience in renewable energy and B2B software to help the data centre industry become smarter, more efficient and ready for the future of computing demand.

Prior to founding Zendo, Barrett spent 13 years at Octopus Energy, latterly as Head of Renewable Procurement, leading the multi-million turnover business unit for the UK’s largest energy supplier. Silicon Valley native Batstone was an early employee at payments company Square and helped to set the business up in the UK. She has also built and led product innovation teams at SWIFT, developing software products to solve critical challenges in the financial services industry.

Zendo’s software will empower data centres to increase capacity revenues and adapt to the growing unpredictability of AI workloads while navigating volatile energy markets that increasingly rely on intermittent renewable sources such as wind and solar.

The AI-powered platform delivers flexible energy solutions with predictive analytics that allows data centres to forecast demand and maximise the value of their infrastructure.

Drew Barrett, COO and Co-founder of Zendo Energy, added: “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. 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.”

Due to the widespread adoption of AI and rapid rise of cloud computing and streaming services, electricity demand from data centres globally is expected to more than double by 2030 – almost as much energy as Japan uses today.

Only half of this demand is likely to be met by renewable sources, posing a significant challenge to global progress towards decarbonisation.

Zendo says their models can save data centres up to 25% in energy costs and simplify the integration of renewables into their power mix.

“Our mission is to decarbonise computing power,” said Jade. “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.”

Zendo’s AI-powered software reportedly delivers flexible energy solutions with predictive analytics that allows data centre operators to analyse their customers’ usage patterns, forecast demand and secure more customised energy tariffs. Their models also unlock ‘stranded power’, enabling operators to maximise the value of their existing infrastructure.

Kirsten Connell, Partner at Octopus Ventures, said: “We’re delighted to be backing Zendo Energy in their mission to decarbonise data centres. This is a world-changing problem, one that will only become more pressing as AI adoption continues its exponential rise, and requires exceptional Founders to solve it. We’ve been really impressed with the team to date, and are looking forward to working with them to build a more sustainable planet.”

Data centres face growing difficulties in planning for their customers’ energy demands due to the boom in AI workloads, which is expected to account for 70% of data centres’ total capacity by 2030.

According to Zendo, this is a particular challenge for colocation data centres, which lease server space to multiple companies and must deliver power to a diverse range of customers without visibility into the applications driving their core demand.

Gabriel Matuschka, Partner at Fly Ventures, said: “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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