Omen AI Acquires Aquatic Labs for $16M to Add Liquid Intelligence to Data Center Cooling
US data centers consume 17 to 19 billion gallons of water annually to cool their high-performance chips—a figure projected to triple within the next five years, according to the Water Foundation. This presents an expensive and politically sensitive challenge for investors pouring billions into scaling AI infrastructure. One way to reduce water usage is to improve monitoring of cooling fluids, a task that currently requires sending samples to a laboratory for multi-day testing.
Omen AI's Real-Time Sensor Solution
Founded in 2024, Omen AI is addressing this problem by developing a real-time sensor that detects failing valves or bacterial growth that could threaten water flow. After raising a $31 million Series A in June, Omen is now acquiring competitor Aquatic Labs in a $16 million cash-and-stock deal.
Complementary Technologies Merge
The deal materialized 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 with complementary capabilities: Omen's sensors detect elemental composition in water, while Aquatic Labs' sensor measures alkalinity. Combining these technologies into a single sensor creates "a much richer picture of the water and the fluid," Adams told TechCrunch, while aligning their shared vision of automating what has traditionally been a slow, manual process.
Two Founder Archetypes Unite
The merger brings together two distinct founder profiles. Laberge dropped out of college to pursue his first company, which performed similar fluid analysis for large construction machines reliant on hydraulics. Adams, a trained physicist, spent much of his career developing advanced ocean sensing technology as an MIT professor and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute researcher before founding his company.
With Adams now serving as chief science officer, the combined teams are integrating both technologies into a single sensor expected to reach the market by early next year. Omen's initial sensors will monitor chips drawing 250 to 300 MW of power by year-end—a market worth approximately $5 to $7 billion, according to Laberge—with hopes of deploying on the equivalent of 1 GW of chips by the end of 2027.
The Value of Uptime
The added value lies in uptime. When fluid systems malfunction, data center operators typically discard the water rather than risk damaging expensive equipment, forcing shutdowns until the system is restored—costing significant money. Monitoring enables operators to reuse the same fluid longer and minimize cleanup costs.
Adams also hopes to see the technology impact areas beyond data centers. "Water goes into data centers, and then it comes out and gets dumped into municipal water, and you want that whole process to happen in a way that's as safe and responsible as possible—and that means you got to measure stuff," he told TechCrunch.
Market Context
AI companies once estimated as much as $4 trillion would be spent on AI infrastructure by 2030, but some investors have grown skeptical of the buildout, sending hyperscaler stocks plummeting in recent days. Omen's team remains unconcerned about shifting sentiment, since their work comes after a data center has been built.
"We're working [with] customers on stuff they're building today or have already built, and so it doesn't really affect us because all of those projects were financed 12 months ago," said Laberge.
via TechCrunch AI