Open AI CEO Sam Altman invests in South Florida AI data center energy startup Exowatt
Read Time 4 MinutesExowatt, a next-generation renewable energy company, unveiled a first-of-its-kind modular energy platform designed to power energy-intensive data centers along with a $20 million seed round from a16z, Atomic, and Sam Altman.
As the boom in AI technology escalates both the demand and the energy costs for data centers, Exowatt’s solution arrives at a critical time.
Exowatt, headquartered in Miami, is a next generation renewable energy company providing commercial and industrial customers with modular energy solutions tailored for energy-intensive applications like data centers. Founded in 2023 by Hannan Parvizian and Atomic CEO Jack Abraham, Exowatt’s mission is to make sustainable renewable energy always available and almost free. Exowatt is backed by a16z, Atomic, and Sam Altman.
Exowatt’s flagship product, the Exowatt P3, represents a significant innovation in energy technology. It consists of a modular, 3-in-1 system, a heat collector, a heat battery, and a heat engine capable of providing dispatchable power and heat throughout the day. Unlike traditional solar panels that convert sunlight into electricity directly, Exowatt uses a unique approach by storing solar energy in a thermal battery, which can retain this energy for up to 24 hours per day. The Exowatt P3 modules are designed to fit the space of a standard 40-foot shipping container. They can be deployed on small and large commercial and industrial projects, linearly scaling with workload size and infrastructure requirements.
“Unlike traditional solutions that require significant upfront costs and extended setup times, Exowatt’s modular system can be deployed rapidly and cost-effectively – and it’s available this year,” said Exowatt CEO and Co-Founder Hannan Parvizian.
“Exowatt is built to respond quickly to the escalating energy demands of the modern world, especially those spurred by the rapid growth of AI.”
Exowatt’s approach involves storing heat instead of electricity, allowing it to store energy at a fraction of the cost of electrochemical batteries and without any supply chain dependency on scarce rare earth materials. Its heat engine design will enable it to dispatch electricity 24 hours a day, ensuring that Exowatt’s energy solutions are reliable around the clock, regardless of weather conditions.
As its technology scales, Exowatt expects to be able to offer electricity for as low as $0.01 per kilowatt-hour, or even less in some cases, which will make it lower cost than fossil fuels and other renewable energy alternatives.
“AI models have been doubling in size every three months—a pace that requires significantly more data center power,” said Jack Abraham, CEO of Atomic and Co-Founder of Exowatt.
“In order to keep up with AI advancements, we need more sustainable energy solutions, which is why we started Exowatt. Our mission is to provide extremely low-cost energy that advances the capabilities of global AI infrastructure while protecting our planet.”
Founded in 2012, Atomic is the venture studio headquartered in Miami that pioneered the model of starting companies by pairing founders with the best ideas, teams, and resources and funding those with the most potential. When entrepreneurs co-found with Atomic, they team up with an experienced group of operators who have started dozens of companies and created billions of dollars in enterprise value. Companies like Butter, Found, $HIMS, Homebound, OpenStore, and Replicant were started at Atomic along with dozens more.
Jack Abraham and Hannan Parvizian founded Exowatt at Atomic to tackle the significant energy needs of AI and data centers. Hannan brings extensive experience from the energy sector and a background in building complex hardware products at scale, having worked at Tesla, General Electric, and Siemens and founded and sold a company that developed and sold advanced delivery drones. Jack has started dozens of companies and built Atomic into the leading venture studio, with a vision to identify some of the world’s biggest problems and build companies to solve them.
“Exowatt is an innovative company helping to meet our country’s growing energy needs,” said Katherine Boyle, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. “By committing to full U.S. manufacturing with domestically sourced components, Exowatt will significantly strengthen our national infrastructure and resilience.”
Andreessen Horowitz (aka a16z) is a venture capital firm that backs bold entrepreneurs building the future through technology. They are stage agnostic investing in seed to venture to growth-stage technology companies, across AI, bio and healthcare, consumer, crypto, enterprise, fintech, games, and companies building toward American dynamism. a16z has $42B in assets under management across multiple funds.
Exowatt has a backlog of demand for over 500 megawatts for data centers across the U.S. and plans to begin deployments later this year. With this $20 million seed funding, Exowatt intends to expand its team and deploy the Exowatt P3 with its first set of data center customers.
To learn more about Exowatt, visit www.exowatt.com
