Omen AI, a startup building real-time sensors for the water that cools data center chips, is acquiring competitor Aquatic Labs in a $16 million cash-and-stock deal that unites two complementary cooling-fluid monitoring technologies.
Omen founder Zach Laberge was introduced to Aquatic Labs CEO Allan Adams by an investor in the filtration space, and the two companies came together after both had been developing real-time water sensors. Omen's sensors looked for elements in the water, while Aquatic Labs' sensor tested alkalinity. Putting the two technologies in the same sensor creates a "much richer picture of the water and the fluid," Adams told TechCrunch, while uniting their vision of automating what had previously been a slow, manual process.
U.S. data centers use 17 to 19 billion gallons of water a year to cool chips, and the Water Foundation expects that figure to triple in the next five years. Today, monitoring cooling fluid means sending samples to a laboratory in a process that takes days. Omen, founded in 2024, set out to build a real-time sensor that could detect whether valves were failing or bacteria growth threatened to choke off water flow.
The company raised a $31 million Series A in June. With Adams as chief science officer, the combined teams are now integrating both technologies into one sensor, which they expect to have on the market by early next year.
Laberge told TechCrunch that Omen's initial sensors will be monitoring chips pulling 250 to 300 MW of power by the end of the year, worth about $5 to $7 billion, with the hope of being installed on the equivalent of 1 GW of chips by the end of 2027. The value is in uptime: when a cooling-fluid system goes out of balance, data center operators often choose to dump the water and shut down rather than risk damage to expensive equipment. Monitoring lets operators use the same fluid for longer and cuts the cost of cleanup.
Adams said he hoped to see the technology have an impact outside data centers as well, telling TechCrunch that water entering data centers and later being released into municipal water systems needs to be measured to keep the whole process safe and responsible.
The deal comes as some investors have grown skeptical of the scale of AI infrastructure spending, and hyperscaler stocks have fallen sharply in recent days. AI companies once estimated as much as $4 trillion would be spent on AI infrastructure by 2030. Laberge said Omen is not worried about shifting sentiment because its work comes after a data center has been built. "We're working 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," he said. "Our view is, if there's tightness, this is still going to be the biggest market in human history, even if you sliced it in half."
Analysis
Why This Matters
- Data center cooling already consumes 17 to 19 billion gallons of water a year in the U.S., and the Water Foundation expects that to triple within five years, putting pressure on AI infrastructure to manage water responsibly.
- Real-time monitoring can reduce downtime and waste: operators currently may dump cooling water and shut down rather than risk damage to expensive equipment.
- The deal consolidates a niche between AI infrastructure spending and environmental limits, even as investor sentiment toward the broader buildout cools.
Background
Omen AI was founded in 2024 and raised a $31 million Series A in June. The standard approach to monitoring cooling fluid has been to send samples to a laboratory, a process that takes days. Omen set out to build a real-time sensor, and the acquisition adds Aquatic Labs' alkalinity testing to its own detection of elements in the water. The combined company plans to bring the integrated sensor to market by early next year.
Key Perspectives
Omen AI founder Zach Laberge: says the deal is insulated from any cooling in AI infrastructure investment because customers are working on facilities already built or under construction and financed 12 months ago; even a halved market would still be the biggest in human history.
Aquatic Labs CEO Allan Adams: says combining the two sensor technologies gives a much richer picture of the water and fluid, and hopes the technology has impact beyond data centers, including on water released into municipal systems.
What to Watch
- Whether the integrated sensor reaches the market by early next year as planned.
- Omen's stated deployment targets: sensors on chips drawing 250 to 300 MW by the end of the year, rising to the equivalent of 1 GW by the end of 2027.
- How data center operators and regulators respond to rising water demand and concerns about water discharged into municipal systems.
Checked
12 claims in this story checked against 1 source: 12 supported.
Show each claim
- SupportedOmen AI is acquiring Aquatic Labs in a $16 million cash-and-stock deal.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “Omen is now acquiring competitor Aquatic Labs in a $16 million cash-and-stock deal.”
- SupportedThe combined startups plan to put the technologies for detecting elements and testing alkalinity into one sensor.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “Both startups were building real-time water sensors with complementary technology: Omen’s sensors looked for elements in the water, while the Aquatic Labs sensor tests its alkalinity.”
- SupportedAdams said the combined sensor would create a “much richer picture of the water and the fluid.”AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “Putting those two technologies in the same sensor creates a “much richer picture of the water and the fluid,” Adams told TechCrunch”
- SupportedAn investor in the filtration space introduced Omen founder Zach Laberge to Aquatic Labs CEO Allan Adams.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “The deal came together after Omen founder Zach Laberge was introduced to Aquatic Labs’ CEO Allan Adams by an investor in the filtration space.”
- SupportedU.S. data centers use 17 to 19 billion gallons of water each year to cool chips, and the Water Foundation expects that amount to triple in the next five years.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “U.S. data centers use 17 to 19 billion gallons of water to cool their hot-running chips each year — and that number is expected to triple in the next five years, according to the Water Foundation.”
- SupportedOmen was founded in 2024 and raised a $31 million Series A in June.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “Omen AI was founded in 2024 to solve that problem. After raising a $31 million Series A in June, Omen is now acquiring competitor Aquatic Labs”
- SupportedWith Adams as chief science officer, the combined teams expect to have a sensor integrating both technologies on the market by early next year.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “Now, with Adams as the company’s chief science officer, the combined teams are working to integrate both technologies into one sensor, which they expect to have on the market by early next year.”
- SupportedLaberge said Omen’s initial sensors will monitor chips pulling 250 to 300 MW of power by the end of the year, worth about $5 billion to $7 billion.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “Omen’s initial sensors will be monitoring chips pulling in 250 to 300 MW of power by the end of the year, worth about $5 to $7 billion, Laberge told TechCrunch”
- SupportedLaberge said Omen hopes to have sensors installed on the equivalent of 1 GW of chips by the end of 2027.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “with the hope of being installed on the equivalent of 1 GW of chips by the end of 2027.”
- SupportedWhen a fluid system gets out of balance, data center operators typically dump the water rather than risk equipment damage, and monitoring can let them use the fluid longer and minimize cleanup costs.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “If the fluid system gets out of whack, data center operators typically choose to dump the water rather than risk damage to their expensive equipment. That means shutting down operations until the fluid system is restored, which costs a lot of money. Monitoring lets data center operators use the same fluid for longer, and minimize the costs of a clean up.”
- SupportedAdams said he hoped the technology would have an impact beyond data centers and that water released into municipal systems needs to be measured for safety and responsibility.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “Adams hopes to see their technologies have an impact outside of data centers as well, telling TechCrunch that “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.””
- SupportedLaberge said the projects Omen is working on do not really affect it because they were financed 12 months ago.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: ““We’re working 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,” Laberge said.”
