Zendo raises £1.75M to decarbonise data centres

London-based energy software startup Zendo has raised £1.75 million in Pre-Seed funding to develop what it calls the first AI-powered “Energy OS” for data centres.

The round was led by Fly Ventures (backers of Wayve) with participation from Octopus Ventures, Pact VC, and angel investors with ties to the data centre sector.

Founded in 2024, Zendo addresses the exponential rise in AI computing demand and the growing urgency to decarbonise digital infrastructure. The startup’s platform is designed to help data centres operate more efficiently by using predictive analytics to optimise energy usage, forecast demand, and integrate intermittent renewables such as wind and solar more seamlessly.

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

As AI workloads expand - set to account for 70 percent of total data centre capacity by 2030, according to industry projections - the pressure on data infrastructure is intensifying. Global electricity demand from data centres is expected to more than double by the end of the decade, potentially equalling Japan’s entire current power consumption. Yet only half of that demand is likely to be met by renewable sources, highlighting a stark mismatch between digital growth and climate targets.

“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, COO and Co-Founder of Zendo. “Being able to manage price volatility is critical for these data centres to protect their margins and maintain competitiveness.” Batstone, a Silicon Valley native, previously worked at Square and led product innovation at SWIFT. Barrett, formerly Head of Renewable Procurement at Octopus Energy, oversaw a multi-million pound business unit within the UK’s largest energy supplier. Together, they bring over 20 years of experience in B2B software and renewable energy to Zendo.

Colocation data centres - shared facilities where multiple companies lease server space - are a key target market for Zendo. These providers face increasing difficulty in forecasting the energy demands of diverse tenants, particularly as AI applications introduce volatile and unpredictable workloads.

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

The investment also signals growing investor interest in next-generation infrastructure solutions that can enable greener, more scalable computing.

“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.”

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