Omen AI has acquired Aquatic Labs in a $16 million cash-and-stock deal as the company looks to strengthen its real-time water monitoring technology for artificial intelligence data centres. The acquisition brings together two startups developing sensors designed to monitor cooling fluids and identify potential equipment problems before they disrupt operations.
Founded in 2024 by Zach Laberge, Omen AI develops sensors that analyse cooling fluids used in data centres. The technology is designed to detect changes in water composition, valve failures and bacterial growth that could affect cooling performance.
The acquisition follows Omen AI's $31 million Series A funding round in June 2026 and comes amid increasing attention to the water requirements of AI infrastructure.
According to figures cited by The Water Foundation, US data centres consume approximately 17 billion to 19 billion gallons of water annually for cooling. That consumption is projected to triple over the next five years.
Conventional cooling-fluid monitoring often involves collecting samples and sending them to laboratories for analysis, a process that can take several days. Omen AI and Aquatic Labs are developing systems intended to provide more immediate information about fluid conditions.
The two companies have been working on complementary sensing technologies. Omen AI's sensors identify elements present in cooling fluids, while Aquatic Labs specialises in measuring alkalinity.
Combining these capabilities is expected to provide data centre operators with a broader assessment of cooling-fluid quality through a single monitoring system.
Following the acquisition, Aquatic Labs CEO Allan Adams will serve as Chief Science Officer at Omen AI. Adams previously worked as a physicist and researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where his work included ocean sensing technologies.
The combined team plans to integrate both sensing capabilities into a single product, with commercial availability targeted for early 2027.
Omen AI expects its initial sensors to monitor cooling systems supporting chips consuming between 250 and 300 megawatts of power by the end of 2026. According to Laberge, the associated computing equipment represents an estimated investment of $5 billion to $7 billion.
The company is targeting deployments covering the equivalent of one gigawatt of computing capacity by the end of 2027.
Cooling-fluid monitoring has become an operational consideration for data centre operators because contamination or changes in fluid quality can affect equipment reliability.
When cooling systems encounter problems, operators may need to replace the fluid and temporarily suspend operations to prevent damage to computing infrastructure.
Real-time monitoring could help identify such issues earlier, reduce unnecessary water replacement and limit operational interruptions.
The companies are also examining applications beyond data centres, including monitoring water quality in other industrial environments.
The acquisition comes as AI infrastructure operators continue to invest in cooling efficiency, water management and equipment reliability to support expanding computing requirements.
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