StartupsNov 3, 2026, 11:31 AM UTC·2 min read

Omen AI buys Aquatic Labs for $16 million to monitor data center water

Omen AI is acquiring rival Aquatic Labs in a $16 million cash-and-stock deal, combining two real-time water sensors to cut cooling-fluid waste in data centers.

Water cooling pipes and sensors inside a large data center hall lined with server racks. — Image: TechCrunch

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Omen AI, a startup building real-time sensors for data center cooling fluids, is acquiring competitor Aquatic Labs in a $16 million cash-and-stock deal. The move follows a $31 million Series A that Omen raised in June.

The two companies were working on complementary technology. Omen's sensors look for elements in the water, while Aquatic Labs' sensor tests alkalinity. Aquatic Labs CEO Allan Adams said that putting both in one device gives a "much richer picture of the water and the fluid." Adams becomes chief science officer of the combined company, and the teams expect to bring the integrated sensor to market by early next year.

Why water monitoring matters

U.S. data centers use 17 to 19 billion gallons of water a year to cool their chips, and that figure is expected to triple within five years, according to The Water Foundation. Checking cooling fluids today usually means sending samples to a laboratory, a process that takes several days.

Omen, founded in 2024, wants to replace that with continuous measurement that can show whether valves are failing or bacterial growth threatens to choke off flow. The payoff is uptime: when a fluid system drifts out of balance, operators typically dump the water rather than risk damaging costly equipment, which means shutting down operations until it is restored. Monitoring lets them reuse the same fluid for longer and limit cleanup costs.

Growth plans

Founder Zach Laberge said Omen's initial sensors will monitor chips drawing 250 to 300 MW of power by the end of the year, equipment worth roughly $5 billion to $7 billion. The goal is to reach the equivalent of 1 GW of chips by the end of 2027.

Laberge is not worried about growing investor skepticism over AI infrastructure spending, which has hit hyperscaler stocks in recent days. Omen works on facilities that are already built or being built, he said, and those projects were financed a year ago. Adams also sees uses beyond data centers, since water leaving them is eventually returned to municipal systems and "you got to measure stuff."