Breakthrough Energy, the climate investment group founded by Bill Gates, has opened its sixth Fellows intake, backing early-stage companies working to cut the cost and carbon of a rapidly electrifying economy.
The programme funds young firms tackling the strain that rising electricity demand is placing on power grids.
Eric Toone, the group's managing partner, cast data centres as an early warning rather than the main problem, calling them a 10% bump on historically flat electricity use.
He said they signalled "a coming massive increase in demand for electricity", which is steering the fund towards power efficiency and scale.
The latest group of 21 start-ups includes fusion ventures such as Borealis Fusion, which is pursuing proton-boron fuel, and cooling work from StarWarden.
It also features chip and data-centre technology from Bedrock Semiconductor and K1 Semiconductor, both aimed at cutting the cost of power electronics, the components that manage the flow of electricity.
Other companies are working on hydrogen shipped in the form of ammonia, sensors that detect crop disease, and robotics for low-impact mineral recovery, reflecting a portfolio split between cutting emissions and adapting to climate change.
The push comes as regulators and industry sharpen their focus on the resources data centres consume, from California tightening energy and water rules to hardware makers such as LG Electronics and LG Energy Solution offering cooling and battery systems for AI facilities.
Benjamin Gaddy, a senior director, will act as Fellows director following the departure of Ashley Grosh, while Breakthrough decides the programme's next steps.
