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§ Private Profile · Milpitas, CA, USA
Virtual Power Systems is a technology company.
Virtual Power Systems has raised $35.0M across 3 funding rounds.
Key people at Virtual Power Systems.
Virtual Power Systems has raised $35.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Virtual Power Systems offers a Software-Defined Power® platform designed to optimize energy utilization within data centers. Their Intelligent Control of Energy (ICE) solution leverages software to dynamically manage and provision power resources, effectively unlocking stranded power capacity and improving operational efficiency. This approach allows data center operators to maximize their existing infrastructure and respond flexibly to fluctuating demands.
The company was established in 2012 by Shankar Ramamurthy, whose insight stemmed from the critical need to address inefficiencies and underutilization of power in modern data center environments. Recognizing that traditional power delivery systems were rigid and wasteful, Ramamurthy envisioned a software-centric paradigm that could transform how power is consumed and managed.
Virtual Power Systems primarily serves large-scale data center operators seeking to enhance their power infrastructure without significant hardware overhauls. The company's vision centers on enabling a more agile, resilient, and sustainable power ecosystem for the digital age, ensuring that computing resources can scale efficiently while minimizing energy waste and optimizing resource allocation.
Key people at Virtual Power Systems.
Virtual Power Systems has raised $35.0M across 3 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $12.0M Other Equity in August 2020.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 12, 2020 | $12M Venture Round | — | — | Announced |
| Mar 19, 2019 | $17M Series B | CUI Global | — | Announced |
| Feb 1, 2014 | $6M Series A | — | AME Cloud Ventures, Base Partners, Dcvc (data Collective), Emergence Capital, Ensemble VC, Hardware Club, Maven Ventures, Scheinman Angel Fund, Sequoia Capital, Tsvc Capital, Wisdom LLP, Bart Swanson, Bill TAI, Subrah Iyar | Announced |
Virtual Power Systems (VPS) is a Software Defined Power® company headquartered in Milpitas, California, that develops the Intelligent Control of Energy (ICE) platform to optimize power management in data centers using real-time machine learning and distributed Li-Ion smart battery systems.[1][2][4] It addresses power availability—the top growth constraint for data centers—by dynamically allocating power to VMs, servers, and racks, improving IT workload density by 50%-150% within existing power footprints while enhancing reliability and visibility.[1][2] VPS serves major data center operators and power equipment vendors, with $29M-$40.6M raised across funding rounds, including a $17M Series B in 2019 and $12M in 2020 from investors like Dolby Family Ventures and DCVC.[1][2]
Founded around 2012-2014, the company has 11-125 employees and reported revenue of $9M-$12.3M, positioning it as a key player in making power an elastic resource akin to CPU or storage in software-defined data centers.[1][2][3][6]
Virtual Power Systems emerged to innovate at the intersection of software and hardware, targeting the "fourth pillar" of software-defined data centers: virtualized power.[4] Founded between 2012 and 2014 in Milpitas, California, VPS applied a software mindset—including AI and machine learning—to the traditionally hardware-focused power infrastructure of data centers.[1][2][3][4][8] The idea stemmed from recognizing power as the primary bottleneck for data center scalability amid rising demands from cloud computing and high-performance workloads.[1][4]
Early traction included partnerships with some of the world's largest data centers and a 2020 Top Tier Product Award from Mission Critical magazine for its ICE platform.[1][2][7] Funding milestones, such as the 2019 Series B and 2020 extension, fueled growth, with the company engaging hyperscale operators to demonstrate real-world power optimization.[1]
VPS rides the explosive growth of AI, cloud computing, and hyperscale data centers, where power demand is surging—projected to constrain expansion without innovations like software-defined power.[1][4] Timing is critical amid global energy shortages and sustainability mandates, as data centers consume ~1-3% of worldwide electricity, with AI workloads accelerating this trend.[1][3] Market forces favoring VPS include the shift to elastic infrastructure (e.g., OpenStack parallels) and AI-driven automation, enabling operators to maximize existing power budgets amid regulatory pushes for efficiency.[1][2][4]
By influencing power equipment vendors and large data centers, VPS shapes the ecosystem toward software-led resilience, reducing downtime risks and supporting greener scaling for cloud providers.[1][4]
VPS is poised to capitalize on unrelenting data center power crunches, with AI training and edge computing driving demand; expect expansions in partnerships, global deployments, and integrations with next-gen batteries or renewables.[1][3][4] Trends like zero-carbon mandates and rack-scale AI will amplify ICE's value, potentially leading to acquisitions by hyperscalers or infrastructure giants. Its influence could evolve from niche innovator to standard-setter in virtualized power, unlocking denser, more reliable data centers—directly tackling the power bottleneck that once capped the company's namesake constraint.[1][2]
Virtual Power Systems has raised $35.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Virtual Power Systems's investors include CUI Global, AME Cloud Ventures, Base Partners, DCVC (Data Collective), Emergence Capital, Ensemble VC, Hardware Club, Maven Ventures, Scheinman Angel Fund, Sequoia Capital, TSVC Capital, Wisdom LLP.
