Customer Value Architect

Digital twin startup Neara raises $63M to help power companies cope with AI's energy demands - SiliconANGLE

Neara raises $90 million to solve the global infrastructure crisis with AI. Eco Voice | February 10, 2026 | Reply Neara, the pioneer of physics-enabled digital twin modelling for critical infrastructure, today announced it has closed an AUD 90 million Series D funding round to accelerate its focus on solving global infrastructure challenges. The round was led by TCV, a leading global growth equity firm, which has previously invested in technology companies including Netflix, Revolut, Spotify, Toast, Clio, Employment Hero, Nubank, SiteMinder and Xero. Returning investors included Partners Group, EQT, Square Peg Capital, and Skip Capital, further validating Neara's market-defining position as the category creator of next-generation digital twins. Building on Neara's AUD 45 million Series C in late 2024, total funds raised to date have reached approximately AUD 180 million. As the world grapples with a series of interconnected challenges - ageing grid infrastructure, ambitious energy transition goals, and the explosive growth of AI compute and data centres - Neara is uniquely positioned to address the most significant challenge constraining all of their potential progress: access to energy. Both the AI and data centre boom require immense amounts of energy, with global electricity consumption for data centres projected to more than double by 2030, highlighting the urgent need to enhance existing strategies to accelerate access to the grid. Neara's physics-enabled digital twin technology fundamentally solves this need, identifying significant underutilised existing network capacity, accelerating new network infrastructure and renewable generation connections, and ensuring grid resilience and reliability in an era of unprecedented demand. "Power grids all over the world are reaching their limits under the combined pressure of AI, electrification, and rapidly rising demand. Across energy, transport, and communications, systems built for a different era are now being pushed beyond their design assumptions. The world needs faster, more intelligent ways to understand what infrastructure is really capable of and how it behaves in the contexts that matter most. Neara grounds every simulation analysis in real-world physics, giving asset owners and operators the confidence to stretch capacity, manage risk, and invest where it matters most for both today's constraints and the demands of the future," said Jack Curtis, Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer at Neara. Neara's extensive work navigating the complexities of the energy transition includes partnerships with global utilities, including Southern California Edison and CenterPoint Energy, in the United States. Its European team has worked with customers spanning ESB Networks (Ireland), Scottish Power (UK), and Hedno (Greece). In Australia, Neara works with close to 90% of all network utilities in Australia, including Essential Energy, Endeavour Energy, Ausgrid, Ausnet, Powercor, and SA Power Networks. The funding from this round will accelerate Neara's global talent pipeline of machine learning and AI engineers to develop the technology needed to solve the world's most critical infrastructure challenges, in addition to further expanding Neara's international commercial footprint. "This investment marks TCV's third investment in an Australian-founded, category-defining technology," said Muz Ashraf, General Partner, TCV. "We believe the infrastructure challenges facing the world, from climate resilience to energy access for AI compute require fundamentally new approaches. Neara's highly differentiated, physics-enabled digital twin platform is a leap forward in how utilities manage their grids. We look forward to supporting Neara in their growth journey as they work to expand their impact globally." Neara's technology has already demonstrated a transformative impact across global infrastructure networks, modelling over 15 million assets covering more than 3 million kilometres across four continents. Through its physics-enabled approach, global utilities are identifying and reducing reliability risks, bringing new infrastructure online 85 per cent faster, and delivering eight-and nine-figure cost savings by consolidating multiple workflows, such as planning, design, and vegetation management, on a single platform. With this raise, Neara cements its position as the creator of a new category of infrastructure intelligence. As infrastructure networks are pushed closer to their physical limits, understanding them requires more than heuristics and statistical models. Neara provides the missing foundational layer for risk- and value-optimised assets: physics-enabled digital twins that ground every decision in real-world engineering reality. This physics-based substrate sets the new standard for how modern infrastructure is understood, planned, and operated. About Neara. Neara is a physics-enabled digital twin that creates a geometrically accurate 3D model of entire infrastructure networks. It applies detailed, asset-level engineering-grade analysis across integrated systems, delivering a context-rich view of how infrastructure behaves and responds in real-world conditions and scenarios. By combining engineering-grade precision with network-wide intelligence through high-velocity, automated analysis, Neara enables safer, more resilient systems and better-informed investment decisions. Neara has modelled 15 million assets globally across over 2 million miles of infrastructure. More information is available at www.neara.com. Independent news is important. Enjoy reading Eco Voice? Please help Eco Voice by purchasing a GIFT Voucher or send one to a friend and encourage people to purchase trees or seeds via The Native Shop - www.nativeshop.com.au Plants, seeds & more delivered to your door! Eco Voice is an independent publication that relies on contributions from its readers. Eco Voice is building an independent media platform with a clear focus on sustainability, supporting the community and not-for-profit organisations, and giving a voice to environmental issues. With your kind support Eco Voice can all make an impact. Please become part of its team HERE! 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