Washington, D.C.-based incubation firm Red Cell Partners has announced the launch of Claros, which is developing technology to optimize energy use at data centers, amid a sharp rise in AI-driven power needs.
The McLean, Va.-based Claros emerged from stealth with $9.75 million in initial funding from Red Cell Partners, Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp.’s Virginia Venture Partners, Washington, D.C.-based Composite Capital Partners, San Francisco’s General Catalyst and others. It has built a power management platform that can significantly enhance the power efficiency of data centers whose power needs have soared with the rise of AI, and computer chips.
Skyrocketing Energy Demands
“AI is fueling an explosion of energy demand at data centers around the world, boosting electricity consumption to levels that could potentially rise to more than 1,000 TWh [terawatt-hour] by 2030,” said Grant Verstandig, co-founder of Claros and founder, chairman, and CEO of Red Cell Partners. “With this increased demand comes a growing need for sustainable, innovative, high-performance compute capabilities to offset skyrocketing energy consumption. That’s what Claros was built to provide. Its advanced power-delivery solution is intended to drive energy efficiency with technology designed to improve AI compute capacity and reliability.”
In January, Red Cell installed Daniel Kultran, a former Northrop Grumman engineer, as CEO of Claros. Kultran was previously the chief technology officer at Epirus, a Red Cell-incubated firm.
“At Claros, we’re on a mission to power the next generation of technological innovation as we work to transform data center infrastructure worldwide,” Kultran said in a recent LinkedIn post. “By delivering advanced power-delivery solutions, we aim to help hyper-scalers, processors, and ASIC [application-specific integrated circuit] companies tackle escalating energy demands, boost AI-compute capacity, and achieve greater efficiency, reliability, and sustainability.”
Every Millimeter Matters
Claros says 30-50% of power in data centers is lost to due to transmission, conversion, and cooling, while 40% of chip power delivery is lost to heat. The latter is seen as particularly problematic for high-performance computing. To mitigate these challenges, Claros has developed an innovative, vertically stacked integrated voltage regulator (IVR) to revolutionize chip power management. It achieves power efficiency by integrating power delivery components directly beneath or on the chip, “reducing the distance needed to deliver power from inches to millimeters.”
Additionally, Claros is developing hardware to shift from alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) power distribution. While traditional data centers rely on multiple AC-to-DC conversions — each introducing inefficiencies — Claros’ approach will deliver “pure DC power, reducing energy loss, improving reliability, and simplifying infrastructure.”
“At a time when energy efficiency is just as important as computational power, our team is solving fundamental inefficiencies in how power is delivered,” said Kultran. “By reinventing how energy flows from the grid to the chip, we’re enabling the next generation of computing infrastructure to be more powerful and sustainable while maintaining the highest safety standards for DC power delivery.”
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Defense-Focused Incubator
Red Cell was co-founded by health care and defense technology entrepreneur Verstandig, investment management veteran Josh Lobel, and venture capitalist and entrepreneur John Tenet. The firm takes its name from a post-9/11 operation of the same name run by CIA. Like that program, Red Cell aims to look anew at problems and discover innovative responses. Its leadership team includes former Secretary of Defense and former Raytheon executive Mark Esper, and Alphabet board member Roger Ferguson, who serves as chief investment officer.
The four-year-old incubator fund’s portfolio includes Eprius, Envisagenics, Red 6, Hero Health and Reveal AI. It has also incubated Zephyr AI, Savoy Life, DEFCON AI and Eyris. Red Cell’s investments came from a $91 million incubation fund (RCIF I) it closed in late 2023. So far, the incubator firm has raised over $200 million.
Verstandig, who previously founded UnitedHealth Group-acquired Rally Health, has sharply focused on national defense. He was previously a senior advisor to the National Security Agency on advanced analytics, technology, and artificial intelligence, and holds several patents in the three areas. Verstandig is a member of the Aspen Institute’s Cybersecurity Group, a public-private forum.
