UK-based startup heata, backed by British Gas, recently secured £1m in seed funding to further develop its low carbon cloud compute network. Established in 2017, heata was initially set up as a British Gas innovation project. The startup empowers businesses to reduce their carbon footprint and helps struggling families save up to £450 on their energy bills annually. The funding round, led by Mark Boost of Civo and supported by Green Angel Syndicate and several angel investors, will be utilized by heata to hire new talent in sales, marketing, design, and IT. The startup aims to strengthen its market presence, expand its cloud offering, onboard new cloud clients, support ongoing network development and undertake additional R&D.
According to heata, the UK’s datacentres, which numbered more than 450 in 2022, consume a minimum of 12% of the country’s electricity. Just one datacentre’s waste heat could provide hot water for 11,000 homes. With its technology, heata captures the heat generated by servers and uses it twice, first for computing and then for hot water. Resultantly, the startup reduces energy consumption by 60%. Individuals and businesses utilizing heata’s cloud services can significantly cut their carbon footprint and support families struggling to pay their energy bills.
Datacentres’ energy demands are exploding, and this is having a significant impact on the grid. Heata offers an innovative solution that goes beyond just delivering on the core purpose of datacentres. The solution reduces the climate impact of datacentres and supports societies with their heat-related needs. The startup is optimistic that its unique proposition will have a genuine social impact.
“We’re reusing heat energy to help tackle fuel poverty in a cost of living crisis; another key challenge of our time,” said Chris Jordan, co-founder and chief technology officer of heata. Michael Paisley, co-founder and chief creative officer of the startup, added that the funding received would help expand their services to more 3D rendering customers, such as animation studios. Recently, heata rendered a two-minute flythrough for Landsec and Model Works, which saved 250kg of carbon and generated 14 tonnes of hot water – equivalent to over 100 days of hot water for an average household.
