Omen AI to Acquire Aquatic Labs in $16 Million Sensor Deal

Omen AI plans to acquire Aquatic Labs for $16 million in cash and stock, combining water-monitoring technologies that can help data centers track cooling-system conditions.

The deal brings together two companies developing real-time tools for water monitoring. Omen AI was founded in 2024, while Aquatic Labs built a sensor that measures water alkalinity. The planned combination aims to put both approaches into one product for data center cooling systems.

Omen’s real-time sensor is designed to detect elements in water and identify failing valves or bacteria growth that could restrict circulation. Aquatic Labs’ instrument measures alkalinity. Integrating the two is expected to give operators readings from both monitoring methods through a single sensor.

The test cycle Omen is addressing can take multiple days. Water samples may need to be sent to a laboratory for analysis, leaving data center teams to wait for results. Omen is developing real-time sensing to provide faster information about cooling-fluid conditions.

That information matters because operators may drain and replace water when a cooling system’s fluid condition is out of range, avoiding possible damage to expensive equipment. Cleanup can interrupt operations until the system is restored. Monitoring is intended to help teams manage the fluid and reduce those disruptions.

Omen raised a $31 million Series A in June. Founder Zach Laberge said initial deployments are expected to cover chips drawing 250 to 300 megawatts of power by the end of 2026, a chip base he valued at $5 billion to $7 billion. Laberge said the company hopes to expand deployments to cover 1 gigawatt of chip capacity by the end of 2027.

Laberge said Omen is working with customers on projects under construction or already completed, rather than relying only on new data center builds. He said those projects had been financed about 12 months before the interview.

Aquatic Labs CEO Allan Adams is set to become chief science officer in the combined company. A physicist, Adams spent much of his career developing ocean-sensing technology as an MIT professor and a researcher at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The team expects the integrated sensor to reach the market in early 2027.