New York-based ThinkLabs, an AI-powered grid intelligence company, has closed a $28m series A financing round.

ThinkLabs is applying high-performance computing and physics-informed AI to help utilities plan, optimise and operate the grid faster and at scale.

The AI revolution is driving the fastest surge in electricity demand in modern history, with US demand projected to grow 25% by 2030 according to consultancy ICF International. Every new AI model, data centre, electrified building and vehicle adds another layer of demand onto infrastructure engineered for a different era. ThinkLabs AI was built to make sure the grid is ready.

“The grid is the most critical infrastructure on earth right now, and it’s being asked to do something it was never designed to do,” said Josh Wong, CEO of ThinkLabs AI (thinklabs.ai). “The legacy tools and processes utilities currently rely on can take months to complete a single study, cost tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in engineering time, and the results are out of date the moment the study is finished. ThinkLabs’ AI-native high performance grid simulation model not only shows you the problems but also gives you the best solutions.”

ThinkLabs’ AI platform is grounded in the physics of how the grid works. Its real-world performance has let utilities compress a monthly-long study into under three minutes, running ten million scenarios in ten minutes, while maintaining greater than 99.7% accuracy on grid power flow.

The company will use the money to expand customer delivery, broaden its product portfolio on physics-informed AI digital twins and agents, and scale deployment with ecosystem partners as utilities face rapid load growth, data centre expansion and system capacity limits.

The round was led by Energy Impact Partners and backed by more than half of North America’s investor-owned utilities.

“Utilities are being asked to add capacity on timelines the industry has never seen before, and the stakes extend far beyond the energy sector,” said Sameer Reddy, managing partner at Energy Impact Partners (www.energyimpactpartners.com). “Energy is the foundation on which economic growth, technological progress, and national security depend, and the grid has to be ready for that. ThinkLabs AI delivers the speed, accuracy and transparency that utilities need to meet this moment.”

Nvidia’s NVentures venture capital arm and Edison International were also involved in the round. Existing investors, including GE Vernova, Powerhouse Ventures, Active Impact Investments, Blackhorn Ventures and Amplify Capital, participated along with a large North American investor-owned utility.

“As the parent company to a utility, we understand these challenges first hand,” said Sergej Mahnovski from Edison International (www.edison.com), parent company of Southern California Edison. “We must rapidly transition from legacy planning tools and processes to meet the growing demands on the electric grid.”