Zendo Raises £1.75M in Pre-Seed Funding to Develop AI-Powered ‘Energy OS’ for Data Centres

LONDON, May 12, 2025 — Energy software startup Zendo has raised £1.75 million in pre-seed funding to build what it describes as the first artificial intelligence-powered “Energy OS” for data centres — a step aimed at easing energy volatility and reducing the carbon impact of AI-led computing.

The round was led by Berlin-based Fly Ventures, an early backer of autonomous vehicle company Wayve. Other participants included Octopus Ventures, Pact VC and a group of angel investors with domain experience in energy and data infrastructure.

Founded in 2024, Zendo was launched to tackle a confluence of pressure points — the explosive growth of AI computing and the parallel challenge of decarbonising digital infrastructure. The company's software, currently under development, is intended to help data centres predict power usage, respond to demand fluctuations and integrate renewable energy sources such as wind and solar without compromising uptime or stability.

“Our mission is to decarbonise computing power,” said CEO and Co-Founder Jade Batstone. “We empower data centres to become smarter, more efficient and ready for the future of computing demand.”

With AI workloads projected to consume up to 70% of global data centre capacity by 2030, electricity consumption in the sector is forecast to more than double — potentially matching the power usage of an entire developed nation such as Japan. Zendo’s founders argue that the market lacks adequate tools to manage the volatility and emissions this growth will bring.

“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,” said Drew Barrett, Zendo’s COO and Co-Founder. “Being able to manage price volatility is critical for these data centres to protect their margins and maintain competitiveness.”

Batstone, a former product lead at SWIFT and early team member at Square, and Barrett, who led renewable procurement at Octopus Energy, bring a combined two decades of experience in enterprise software and clean energy to the venture.

The company is particularly focused on the colocation market — shared facilities where companies rent server space. These centres, often operating at near-full capacity, are under increasing strain as AI applications introduce volatile and unpredictable energy usage patterns.

“These facilities are like WeWorks for servers,” Batstone said. “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.”

Investors say Zendo’s pitch — automating energy management for data centres — is well-timed as the sector grapples with economic, environmental and geopolitical constraints.

“This is a world-changing problem, one that will only become more pressing as AI adoption continues its exponential rise,” said Kirsten Connell, partner at Octopus Ventures. “We’ve been really impressed with the team to date, and are looking forward to working with them to build a more sustainable planet.”

Fly Ventures’ Gabriel Matuschka added, “We believe their technology can unlock the next generation of data centre operations that are greener, more efficient and more profitable.”

The company is currently hiring engineers and product specialists to scale its prototype into a commercial product. A beta rollout is planned for early 2026.

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. Being able to manage price volatility is critical for these data centres to protect their margins and maintain competitiveness.