DG Matrix raises $60M to make data center power smarter

Data centers face a conundrum: how to power increasingly dense server racks using equipment that relies on century-old technology. 

Traditional transformers are bulky and hot, but a new generation of solid-state transformers promises to address both problems while making power management more flexible.

One solid-state transformer startup, DG Matrix, has raised $60 million in a Series A round, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. Engine Ventures led the round with ABB, Cerberus Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, Clean Energy Ventures, Fine Structure Ventures, Helios Climate Ventures, MCJ, and Piedmont Capital participating.

The company also recently announced a deal to provide its Interport device to Exowatt, the startup building solar-plus-storage containers to supply data centers with 24/7 electricity.

The Interport device acts as a router for power, Subhashish Bhattacharya, co-founder and CTO of DG Matrix, told TechCrunch. One Interport can handle up to 2.4 megawatts of connections. For example, it could accumulate 600 kilowatts from solar panels and 600 kilowatts from grid-scale batteries to feed power to 12 racks drawing 100 kilowatts each.

Because Interport can integrate electricity from a variety of sources, including large batteries, DG Matrix says it can eliminate uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and the equipment needed to support them. 

Altogether, one Interport can cut down the amount of space devoted to power conversion in a data center. Two four-by-30 foot skids laden with power conversion equipment can be replaced by a single four-by-four foot Interport device, DG Matrix co-founder and CEO Haroon Inam told TechCrunch. 

By eliminating several devices, the company can boost the system’s overall efficiency. All the legacy devices chained together can achieve about 82% to 90% efficiency, Inam said, while Interport is 95% to 98% efficient. He said that reliability should improve, too. “When you are using only 10%, 15% of the components that legacy is using, you’re going to be far more reliable,” he added.

DG Matrix is in the process of rolling out initial units to customers in June. Its next product will be a sidecar to supply data center racks with power that builds on the technology the company has already developed.

Currently, data centers represent about about 90% of DG Matrix’s pipeline, with the remainder devoted to EV charging for fleets. Inam said the next step is to expand into building power and add more capacity to build micro- and mini-grids to support electrification projects in remote communities. There, Interports would orchestrate power from solar, wind, and batteries to provide round-the-clock electricity without a grid connection.

“Nobody’s going to build a $100 million transmission line to a village,” Inam said. “Now you can spend a fraction of that money and help eliminate energy poverty.”