A renewable energy company that specializes in storing heat instead of electricity launched with $20 million in funding from investors.
Miami-based Exowatt's backers include A16Z, Atomic and OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman. The company is behind a modular energy platform designed to power data centers, which house servers and computer systems to store data.
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Exowatt was founded in 2023 by Hannan Parvizian and Jack Abraham, the founder of investment fund Atomic. Parvizian is an entrepreneur and investor who has held roles at prominent businesses like Tesla, General Electric and Siemens.
The use of energy-intensive technology like artificial intelligence is increasing demand for data centers, Abraham said in a statement. To meet demand, Exowatt aims to provide low-cost energy from renewable sources.
“In order to keep up with AI advancements, we need more sustainable energy solutions, which is why we started Exowatt," Abraham said.
Abraham is among a wave of tech entrepreneurs who relocated to Miami during the Covid-19 pandemic, a trend that put a national spotlight on the region's startup ecosystem.
Exowatt reports its three-in-one storage system includes a heat collector, a heat battery and a heat engine. Unlike traditional solar panels that convert into electricity, the startup stores solar energy in a thermal battery that can retain energy for up to 24 hours a day. Designed to fit into a 40-foot shipping container, Exowatt says the device can deployed onto small and large commercial and industrial facilities.
Storing heat instead of electricity also enables Exowatt to store energy at lower cost without the need for rare earth minerals used in traditional solar panels, the company reports. The firm plans to manufacture its products in the United States with domestically sourced components.
Exowatt has a backlog of orders to support U.S. data centers and will begin to deploy its storage systems this year, according to a news release. The $20 million in funding will be used to hire additional employees and to fulfill its first customer orders.
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Demand for energy is only expected to grow due to population increases and a shift to technology like cloud computing and AI. However, much of the traditional power grid is powered by fossils fuels like natural gas that emit carbon emissions. As a result, everyone from public companies like NextEra Energy to early-stage startups are investing in solar energy, battery storage and other clean technologies.
"Exowatt is built to respond quickly to the escalating energy demands of the modern world," Parvizian said.
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