Phaidra

What Phaidra does

Phaidra is a Seattle-based, venture-backed AI company founded in 2019 that develops reinforcement learning agents for autonomous control of mission-critical data center and AI factory infrastructure, specifically thermal, power, and workload management systems. The company was founded by former Google DeepMind engineers Jim Gao (CEO), Veda Panneershelvam (CTO), and Katie Hoffman (President/COO), the team responsible for the well-documented AI cooling optimization that delivered roughly 30–40% energy efficiency improvements at Google's data centers. Phaidra's platform architecture is split into two core products: Phaidra Prism, an LLM-based AI assistant purpose-built for data center operations technicians; and Phaidra Factory, a suite of specialized RL agents (including liquid cooling, CDU control, and power allocation agents) that perform feed-forward control using real-time rack power as a leading indicator, achieving response times under 10 seconds versus 3–5 minutes for traditional PID controllers and reducing thermal overshoot by 75–80% in validated NVIDIA GB200/NVL72 environments. The company serves AI factory operators, hyperscale data center operators, and colocation providers, with named engagements spanning CoreWeave, Applied Digital, ST Telemedia Global Data Centres, Khazna Data Centers, and Merck, plus a UAE Ministry of Energy pilot.\n\nPhaidra operates a subscription-based enterprise software model with custom quote-based pricing tied to facility size and deployment scope, sold primarily through direct enterprise field sales augmented by channel partnerships within the NVIDIA DSX ecosystem. The company is integrated into NVIDIA's Vera Rubin DSX AI Factory reference design and Omniverse DSX Blueprint as one of ten ecosystem specialists for AI factory operations, and has been co-developed with NVIDIA's Mission Control Domain Power Service via the NVGrid API. The business is 100% remote with a distributed workforce across North America, Europe, and India, and has raised over $60.5M in disclosed funding across pre-seed, seed, Series A, and Series B rounds, with the most recent $50M+ Series B led by Collaborative Fund in October 2025 and including strategic investment from NVIDIA and Sony Innovation Fund.

Name

Phaidra

Legal name

Phaidra Inc.

Website

https://phaidra.ai

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Phaidra is a Seattle-based AI company that builds reinforcement learning agents for autonomous thermal, power, and cooling control of AI factories and hyperscale data centers, serving AI factory operators, hyperscalers, and colocation providers such as CoreWeave and Applied Digital.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Data Center Infrastructure Software

NAICS

Automatic Environmental Control Manufacturing for Residential, Commercial, and Appliance Use (334512), Computer Facilities Management Services (541513), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Auto Controls For Regulating Residential & Comml Environments (3822)

akta.pro primary industry

AI Datacenter Power, Cooling & Racks (liquid cooling, power delivery) (HDAAAAAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Cooling Systems & Thermal Management (CRAC/CRAH, Chillers, Liquid Cooling) (HDABAKAD), End-to-End Enterprise AI Platforms (MLOps & Model Lifecycle Management) (HDAEANAA), AI Observability, Monitoring & Evaluation Platforms (Drift, Quality, Safety) (HDAEANAF)

Keywords

• Data center cooling optimization
• AI infrastructure management
• Reinforcement learning agents
• Data center energy efficiency
• AI factory operations software

Headquarters

HQ city

Seattle

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. AI Control Software Platform: Subscription-based AI software platform for data center energy optimization. Phaidra's AI agents are deployed to optimize power, cooling, and workload management systems in AI factories and data centers, typically sold as enterprise contracts with implementation services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Phaidra sells an AI control software platform — consisting of Phaidra Prism (an LLM for data center operations) and Phaidra Factory (specialized reinforcement learning AI agents) — that autonomously monitors and optimizes power, cooling, and workload management systems in AI factories and large-scale data centers. The platform integrates with NVIDIA infrastructure and BMS/SCADA systems to predict and prevent thermal spikes, reduce energy use, and maximize tokens per watt.

Product overview

Phaidra offers a dual-product platform architecture consisting of Phaidra Prism and Phaidra Factory. Phaidra Prism is the first LLM designed specifically for data center operations, serving as an AI assistant that helps technicians understand operating conditions, conduct detailed analyses, and troubleshoot issues through a conversational interface. Phaidra Factory provides specialized AI agents that autonomously optimize cooling systems and power allocation at gigawatt scale. Both products are built on reinforcement learning and feed-forward control technology, with Prism providing observability and Factory providing autonomous control. The platform achieves approximately 80% reduction in thermal spikes while enabling higher TCS temperatures for improved energy efficiency.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Phaidra Prism: The first LLM for data center operations, helping technicians uncover, prioritize and troubleshoot the most pressing issues. AI assistant designed for data center operators and technicians.
• Phaidra Factory

Products and services

• Phaidra Prism The first LLM designed specifically for data center operations, providing a conversational AI assistant for technicians and operators to uncover, prioritize, and troubleshoot the most pressing issues in operating conditions, with root cause analysis and automated incident response. Targeted at data center operators and technicians.
• Phaidra Factory Specialized reinforcement learning AI agents that autonomously monitor and optimize mission-critical data center infrastructure at gigawatt scale — including liquid cooling CDU control, PUE optimization, agentic power allocation, and chiller plant management. Designed for AI factory operators and hyperscale data centers.

Quantifiable outcome

• 75-80% reduction in thermal spike overshoot
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

AI capability7 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered major and core.

• SalutemajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 March 2026Strategic partnership combining Phaidra's automated data centre control software with Salute's direct-to-chip liquid cooling operations services. Addresses operational complexity of running higher-density AI systems.
• CoreWeavecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 March 2026Strategic partnership combining automated data centre control software with direct-to-chip liquid cooling operations. Phaidra's AI-driven control system integrated with CoreWeave's liquid-cooled fleet, demonstrating 75-80% reduction in thermal overshoot on NVIDIA GB200/NVL72 environments.
• Applied DigitalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 March 2026Critical infrastructure partner in the development of AI-driven liquid cooling management methodology. Applied Digital manages AI factory campuses and works with partners to operate increasingly complex power and cooling infrastructure.
• UAE Ministry of Energy and InfrastructuremajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 February 2026Pilot program to deploy Phaidra's AI technology for optimizing power, cooling, and operational efficiency across UAE data centres and district cooling operations. Announced at World Governments Summit in Dubai.
• Khazna Data CentersmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 February 2026Partner in UAE pilot program with Ministry of Energy. Khazna uses solar power and biofuels to reduce environmental footprint; Phaidra AI to further optimize energy efficiency.
• AgilitymajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 February 2026Co-partner in UAE pilot program with Ministry of Energy and Khazna. Builds on previously signed MoU between Ministry and Agility for AI implementation in data centers.
• NVIDIAcoreTechnology or Integration · 9 September 2025NVIDIA DSX ecosystem partner and investor. Phaidra is integrated into NVIDIA's Vera Rubin DSX AI Factory reference design and Omniverse DSX Blueprint. Contributes to open data exchange standards and communications protocols for AI factory control planes. Also invested in Phaidra's Series B funding round.
• ST Telemedia Global Data CentresmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 31 August 2024Collaboration to deploy Phaidra AI control services in data centres in Singapore to optimize cooling and operations. Pilot deployment of Phaidra's AI data center cooling control system.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Augury: AI-driven machine health and process optimization for industrial assets using vibration, temperature, and AI-based anomaly detection. Adjacent in industrial AI reliability and energy-efficiency positioning.
• 75F: IoT and AI-driven building HVAC management platform using cloud-based controls and predictive algorithms. Comparable emerging player applying AI to HVAC and energy optimization in commercial buildings.

Direct peers

• Uptake: AI-driven asset performance and operations platform for industrial sectors including energy, rail, and heavy industry. Comparable in applying ML to industrial control and reliability use cases with enterprise GTM.
• C3.ai: Enterprise AI platform selling pre-built and configurable AI applications for industrial operations, asset performance, and process optimization to large enterprise customers. Highly comparable to Phaidra's enterprise AI agent model for mission-critical infrastructure.
• SparkCognition: AI platform for industrial applications including asset optimization, predictive maintenance, and operational decisioning across energy, manufacturing, and defense. Comparable as a vertically-focused industrial AI software vendor.
• BrainBox AI: AI-powered building automation and HVAC optimization platform targeting commercial real estate. Closest comparable to Phaidra's cooling optimization layer applied to building operations rather than data centers.

Broad incumbents

• Vertiv: Global provider of critical digital infrastructure for data centers, including power, thermal management (liquid cooling), and IT systems. Directly comparable as a broad incumbent in the data center cooling and power stack that Phaidra's AI agents sit on top of.
• ABB: Global industrial automation, electrification, and motion provider with ABB Ability industrial AI platform serving data centers and process industries. Comparable broad incumbent in industrial AI and control.
• Honeywell: Industrial conglomerate with Honeywell Forge building and process management platform covering HVAC, energy, and data center operations. Comparable as a broad incumbent in facility automation where Phaidra competes for control-plane spend.
• Schneider Electric: Major data center and industrial infrastructure provider with EcoStruxure platform covering power, cooling, and building management. Comparable broad incumbent offering overlapping capabilities to data center operators.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/phaidra-ai

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds7 records

Investors18 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Phaidra