Anthropic Investor Leads Funding for Off-Grid AI Power Startup

A startup that builds off-grid power systems for data centers said it raised $120 million in a Series A funding round led by Spark Capital, an investor in artificial-intelligence developer Anthropic PBC.

The round values TAR at about $1 billion, and prior investors Buckley Ventures and Align Fund also participated, the Austin-based company said in a statement Thursday. TAR will use the funds to hire more engineers and expand manufacturing operations, according to co-founder Pat Becker.

TAR is designing modular systems consisting of solar, batteries and backup natural gas generators that can power a data center without connecting to a electric grid, Becker said in an interview. The company uses automation and robots to speed up deployment times, he added.

“We found a way to deploy energy at speed,” he said. “We can deploy in a matter of months.”

Data-center developers are increasingly looking to build their own power supplies as they encounter labor shortages, local opposition and long wait times to connect to the grid. Most of the proposed projects intend to use gas-fired generation, which can offer power around the clock.

TAR’s power systems will use gas only for backup or emergencies with renewables and batteries providing the bulk of the energy, Becker said. The company is currently building a project that will provide several hundred megawatts for an undisclosed data-center customer in Texas and has plans for another large development next year, he said.