Exowatt

7/10
Not specified in the articleBacked by Sam Altman; article tags also reference MVP Ventures (specific round size and other investors not stated in the provided article excerpt).Not specified in the article

Description

A solar-thermal startup developing modular 'hot rock' thermal batteries and associated systems to generate and store electricity targeted at powering data centers (including AI data centers).

Why in News

Featured for pursuing large-scale deployment of solar-thermal 'hot rock' modules to deliver very low-cost electricity (as little as $0.01/kWh) for AI data centers and for needing to scale production to about 1 million units per year; the company is noted as being backed by Sam Altman.

Founders

Not specified in the article

Published

January 20, 2026

Website

Not specified in the article

Analysis

Company is not an AI developer but is explicitly targeting AI data centers — clearly AI-related infrastructure rather than an AI product startup.