Omen AI Acquires Aquatic Labs, Bringing Ocean-Sensing Expertise to Automate Data Center Cooling

Founder Allan Adams and his team join Omen AI to develop new sensors and help cooling systems monitor and maintain their own fluid.

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Omen AI, a startup bringing continuous fluid testing directly into AI data center cooling systems, today announced its acquisition of Aquatic Labs for $16 million in cash and stock. Aquatic Labs founder Allan Adams will join as chief science officer and lead Omen AI's research and development, bringing his team's expertise and years of sensor research to the company's effort to automate cooling-fluid monitoring and treatment.

Omen AI brings fluid testing typically performed in a laboratory directly into data center cooling systems. Its sensors monitor fluid as equipment runs, helping operators identify changes between scheduled tests and address potential problems before they disrupt cooling.

The acquisition brings Aquatic Labs' team, intellectual property, and sensor research into Omen AI's development of automated fluid monitoring and treatment for data centers.

"To automate treatment, you first need enough information to understand what is happening in the fluid," said Zach Laberge, founder and CEO of Omen AI. "Allan and his team have spent years developing technology that helps fill in that picture. Bringing them into Omen AI lets us build on that research, develop new sensors together, and move faster toward cooling systems that can maintain their own fluid condition."

Aquatic Labs' sensing technology will complement Omen AI's elemental analysis and biological monitoring. It measures total alkalinity, or the fluid's ability to neutralize acid, in real time without adding chemicals to perform each test. Combined with Omen AI's other measurements, those readings can help operators assess the potential for mineral buildup and corrosion in cooling systems.

Adams founded Aquatic Labs following a career spanning theoretical physics and ocean monitoring, including roles as a professor of physics at MIT and a visiting oceanographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. As Omen AI's chief science officer, he will lead research and development across the company's sensing technologies, helping turn that expertise into products designed for AI data center cooling systems and beyond.

"The same chemistry corals use to build reefs also causes scale buildup in coffee machines and fouls data center cooling loops. Aquatic Labs and Omen AI have both focused on measuring that chemistry in real time without human intervention, and the tools we have developed pair together powerfully. But you also need to understand what's living in the water, including the microorganisms that can grow inside cooling systems," said Allan Adams, chief science officer at Omen AI. "Understanding both the chemistry and the biology is a formidable technical challenge, and I'm thrilled to bring Aquatic Labs' technology, team, and expertise to Omen AI to help solve it."

Omen AI expects to begin shipping products with the additional monitoring capabilities by year-end. The added measurements will support its longer-term work on automated treatment, connecting fluid analysis to equipment that can adjust coolant chemistry within approved limits and verify the results through continued monitoring. The goal is to reduce manual testing and intervention and help prevent costly downtime.

About Omen AI

Omen AI builds sensors that continuously monitor the cooling fluids used in AI data centers. Its sensors attach directly to a fluid system and provide real-time analysis of metal content, biological contaminants, signs of wear, and fluid degradation, helping operators identify potential problems and make maintenance decisions. By detecting changes that periodic testing can miss, Omen AI gives operators earlier warning of potential failures and helps prevent costly downtime. Omen AI is currently working in data centers with 10+ GW of combined capacity. 

Founded in 2024 and based in San Francisco, Omen AI has raised $46 million in total funding. The company is backed by Nava Ventures, CRV, Sheryl Sandberg, Brian Halligan (co-founder of HubSpot), Mann+Hummel, Caffeinated Capital, Vanderbilt, Genius Ventures, LMNT Ventures, and a network of strategic operators from across the AI infrastructure ecosystem.

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SOURCE Omen