In a move poised to accelerate the deployment of advanced computing infrastructure globally, GridFree AI has emerged from stealth with a bold vision to transform how data centers are built and operated. The company, incubated by Montauk Climate, announced it has raised $5 million in funding led by Amplo and Giant Ventures.
Its founders, Ralph Alexander – former CEO of BP’s Global Gas, Power, and Renewables division – and Patrick Yantz, previously a global edge operations leader at Microsoft, bring deep domain expertise in energy and cloud infrastructure to the venture.
GridFree AI’s flagship innovation, the Power Foundry platform, presents a modular, grid-independent solution that integrates power generation, battery storage, and advanced cooling directly into the data center design. This end-to-end system is designed to radically shorten deployment timelines and expand access to high-performance computing in previously underserved or unreachable regions.
The platform is engineered to transform natural gas into power and cooling at up to 90% efficiency – significantly higher than the conventional grid’s 36%. This not only accelerates time-to-revenue for compute infrastructure by an estimated three to five years, but also slashes capital and operational expenditures by as much as one-third. According to the company, the net result is a 50% increase in available power for IT workloads, allowing more computing capacity to be deployed at each site.
By targeting jurisdictions rich in natural gas, favorable regulation, and proximity to fiber and carbon storage, GridFree AI is prioritizing sustainability while enabling net-zero operations. The platform also anticipates future integration with emerging technologies such as Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), showcasing flexibility for long-term energy innovation.
The founders emphasize that the fusion of energy systems integration and modular computing architecture is critical for meeting the exponential demand for AI infrastructure. “Our Power Foundry brings the efficiency and scale of industrial energy systems into the data center world, enabling a new standard of reliability and deployment speed,” said Patrick Yantz. “We are entering a new era of compute infrastructure, and GridFree AI is positioned to lead it.”
Tommy Stadlen, founding partner at Giant Ventures, underlined the urgency of their mission. “With AI and energy demand both surging, the world needs faster, more efficient infrastructure. GridFree AI enables this with a first-of-its-kind platform.”
Future Collaborations
Beyond fixed-site deployments, GridFree AI has built its systems to be modular and transportable, supporting both land-based and maritime implementations. Each deployment generates operational data that feeds into the company’s continuous optimization algorithms, creating a feedback loop that enhances performance across all sites. This data-driven approach is intended to maximize efficiency and adapt to dynamic computing needs over time.
Montauk Climate CEO Philip Krim reinforced the company’s role in addressing a key bottleneck in AI scalability. “The race to scale AI is fundamentally a race to deliver infrastructure. GridFree AI uniquely brings together energy innovation and rapid deployment to answer that challenge.”
As demand for compute-intensive workloads escalates, GridFree AI is already in discussions with major industry players for future collaborations. Its integrated approach to energy and compute offers a compelling proposition for enterprises seeking agile, high-efficiency data infrastructure with a path toward sustainable growth in the AI era.
