Intrinsic Power, a Sawtelle-based charging station company, is capitalizing on artificial intelligence’s demand for power and electrical infrastructure.
The company announced on Wednesday that it raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding to accelerate Intrinsic Power’s foray into the world of AI. California-based Kyocera Ventures and Boost VC, along with RPV Global and Drive Catalyst, participated in the financing.
“The rapid growth of AI is creating new demands on electrical infrastructure,” Rick Johnson, general partner at Kyocera Ventures, said in a statement. “We believe intelligent power orchestration will become an important component of next-generation data center power systems, and Intrinsic Power is developing an innovative platform to address this emerging opportunity.”
Intrinsic Power is currently working to commercialize its AI power orchestration platform, which connects all of the separate electrical equipment to provide clients with information. The platform monitors electrical conditions and predicts when capacity will be available, as well as how much capacity will be available for a certain amount of time. The ability to coordinate all the disparate parts of the electric system allows customers to utilize electricity in a way that’s more flexible, energy and cost efficient, and resilient to weak points.
Expansion to data centers
Intrinsic Power is also expanding into AI-focused data centers using the technology it has already been using since it was founded in 2015. That tech stack, which has already been installed for other commercial power management use cases, can also accommodate data centers and their need for power.
“Intrinsic Power was founded on the belief that electrical infrastructure should be intelligent, adaptive and capable of optimizing itself in real time,” Broc TenHouten, the cofounder and chief executive of Intrinsic Power, said in a statement. “As AI infrastructure and data centers rapidly increase demand for electricity, our platform is uniquely positioned to help customers unlock additional grid capacity, improve resiliency, and accelerate deployment without waiting for costly infrastructure upgrades.”
Electrical infrastructure has seen renewed interest from investors and the tech sector, given AI data centers’ power-hungry ambitions and the electrical grid’s inability to fulfill them.
The electric grid is already under demand by the growing electric vehicle charging industry, AI data centers, unprecedented climate disasters and aging infrastructure that hadn’t been updated in more than 10 years. As the U.S. works to onshore domestic manufacturing capabilities, expand public transit and increase its use of AI, the country’s reliance on the grid only plans on growing. That is causing a backlog of projects, with housing projects and manufacturing developments and infrastructure initiatives waiting an average of five years to plug into the grid so they can come to fruition.
Several companies have rushed in to fill gaps left behind by the inadequate capabilities of the grid. Critical Loop, a Long Beach-based startup, came onto the scene in 2023 with an idea to create microgrids – small plug-ins of power that allow companies with intensive energy requirements to tap into electric energy while they wait for availability on the grid. The company raised $26 million in April.
The electrical infrastructure sector raised an all-time high of $94.6 billion in 2025, with Los Angeles-based companies contributing to 10% of that. The industry is on track to beat that record by the end of the year, per PitchBook.
