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Omen AI buys Aquatic Labs for $16 million to monitor data center cooling fluid
Omen AI, which builds real time sensors for liquid cooling systems, is acquiring competitor Aquatic Labs in a $16 million cash and stock deal, TechCrunch reported. Aquatic Labs CEO Allan Adams, a former MIT professor, will become chief science officer. The combined company expects a single integrated sensor on the market by early next year.
Key points
- Omen AI is acquiring Aquatic Labs in a $16 million cash and stock deal.
- A combined sensor for data center cooling fluid is expected on the market by early next year.
- Omen aims to monitor the equivalent of 1 GW of chips by the end of 2027.
What happened: Omen AI, founded in 2024, is acquiring competitor Aquatic Labs in a $16 million cash and stock deal, TechCrunch reported. The deal follows Omen's $31 million Series A in June. Omen founder Zach Laberge was introduced to Aquatic Labs CEO Allan Adams by an investor in the filtration space.
The details: Today, checking the fluids that cool data center chips usually means sending samples to a lab for a process that takes days. Omen builds real time sensors that look for elements in the water to show whether valves are failing or bacteria growth threatens flow. The Aquatic Labs sensor tests alkalinity. Adams told TechCrunch that combining the two creates a "much richer picture of the water and the fluid." The teams are building both technologies into one sensor that they expect on the market by early next year. Adams, a physicist who was an MIT professor and a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution researcher, will be chief science officer. The split between cash and stock has not been disclosed.
Background: The Water Foundation estimates US data centers use 17 to 19 billion gallons of water a year to cool chips, a figure expected to triple in five years, according to the report. Operators often dump fluid rather than risk damage, which halts operations.
What to watch: Laberge said Omen's initial sensors will monitor chips drawing 250 to 300 MW of power by the end of the year, with the goal of reaching the equivalent of 1 GW of chips by the end of 2027.
Our take
Better monitoring of data center cooling targets uptime, which in turn affects the reliability and capacity behind the AI services teams depend on.