Zenotech
Zenotech is a Bristol-based, founder-owned engineering software firm that builds GPU-accelerated CFD/CAA solvers (zCFD, HiPer), a cloud HPC service (EPIC) and drone-safety simulations (AirSight), serving aerospace, automotive, wind-energy and drone customers on a subscription-plus-consulting model.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2012
- HeadquartersBristol, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Zenotech does
Zenotech Ltd is a Bristol, UK-based private limited company (Company No. 07926926) founded in 2012 by David Standingford and Jamil Appa, both formerly of BAE Systems Advanced Technology Centre. The company develops GPU-accelerated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and computational aero-acoustics (CAA) software and provides related engineering consultancy to customers in aerospace, automotive, wind energy, drone/UAV, civil engineering and academia.
The core technology stack centres on three proprietary products. zCFD is a GPU-native, high-performance fluid dynamics solver offered with free fully-featured usage on a single device and an annual unlimited-use enterprise license. HiPer CFD, launched in July 2025, is a scale-resolving LES solver designed to run large (200M-cell) simulations on consumer-grade 24GB gaming GPUs, exploiting immersed boundary methods and high-order numerics. EPIC is an on-demand cloud HPC service built on AWS EC2 and Oracle Cloud instances, providing browser-based access to GPU compute. A specialised service, AirSight, simulates turbulent air hazards for drone and UAV flight safety. The company's tech differentiators are validated against real-world data, including a blind test at the SSE Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm and Aston Martin full-vehicle aero-acoustics campaigns, and it has been demonstrated to reduce a 12-hour, $200 CPU simulation to a 2-hour, $75 GPU run on AWS P4d instances.
Zenotech monetises through a mix of annual unlimited-use software subscriptions (zCFD, HiPer and forthcoming Epic Lite under a single fee with no per-core or consumption charges), usage-based cloud HPC revenue via EPIC, and bespoke professional services spanning aerodynamic design, aero-acoustics, wind farm assessment, drone aerodynamics and parallel/GPU software engineering. Distribution combines a product-led free-download funnel for zCFD with enterprise field sales and partnerships — notably an AWS Technology Partner / HPC Competency Launch arrangement, an Oracle Silver Partnership, co-marketing with NVIDIA and Intel, and a 4-year R&T consortium role on the Airbus-led LANDOne programme alongside Safran. The firm operates with a small (~12-person) technical team, is founder-owned with no disclosed institutional investors, and markets primarily through technical conferences (CES, ERCOFTAC ETMM, ICAS, Nvidia GTC) and direct enterprise engagement.
Zenotech firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Zenotech
- Legal name
- Zenotech Ltd
- Website
- https://zenotech.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2012
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Zenotech is a Bristol-based, founder-owned engineering software firm that builds GPU-accelerated CFD/CAA solvers (zCFD, HiPer), a cloud HPC service (EPIC) and drone-safety simulations (AirSight), serving aerospace, automotive, wind-energy and drone customers on a subscription-plus-consulting model.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Zenotech industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Computational Fluid Dynamics Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132), Computer Systems Design Services (541512)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)
- akta.pro primary industry
- GPU-Accelerated HPC Systems (HDACAOAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- HPC Clusters & Scale-Out Compute (x86/ARM) (HDACAOAB), HPC Appliances for Specific Workloads (CAE/CFD/EDA/Rendering) (HDACAOAJ)
Keywords
Where Zenotech is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Bristol
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices3 records
Markets served
Zenotech business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Software Licensing (zCFD and HiPer): Annual unlimited-use licenses for software products including zCFD (GPU-accelerated CFD solver) and HiPer (high-fidelity simulation solver). No per-core charges, no consumption penalties. Licensing model enables unlimited simulations per year with full support included.
- Consulting Services: Professional engineering consulting services for computational fluid dynamics, aero-acoustics, wind farm development, drone aerodynamics, and aerospace design analysis. Services include bespoke aerodynamic data packs for drone developers and wind energy assessment.
- Cloud HPC (EPIC): On-demand cloud high-performance computing resources via EPIC platform. Access to AWS EC2 instances (C5, P3, P4) with consulting services for HPC optimization. Enables users to run simulations without capital investment in HPC infrastructure.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Others | Free tier for zCFD single device usage |
| Subscription | Annual | Annual Unlimited-Use License |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels7 records
Zenotech product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Zenotech develops and sells GPU-accelerated high-performance computing (HPC) software for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and computational aero-acoustics (CAA), including the proprietary zCFD and HiPer solvers. The company also operates EPIC, an on-demand cloud HPC platform, and provides specialist engineering consultancy across aerospace, automotive, wind energy, and drone/UAV sectors. Its offering combines proprietary simulation software, cloud infrastructure, and domain-specific consulting services for engineering and research customers.
Product overview
Zenotech delivers a portfolio of GPU-accelerated CFD software tools and HPC cloud services, complemented by specialized engineering consultancy. Core products include zCFD (GPU-accelerated fluid dynamics solver available in free single-device and paid versions), HiPer CFD (scale-resolving simulation tool optimised for consumer-grade GPUs), and EPIC (cloud HPC platform). The company also offers domain-specific services including AirSight (drone safety simulation), Computational Aero-Acoustics, Wind Farm Development, and Software Engineering. The licensing model offers unlimited-use annual agreements with no per-core charges.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- zCFD: GPU accelerated high performance fluid dynamics solver
- HiPer
- EPIC
- AirSight
Products and services
- zCFD GPU-accelerated high-performance fluid dynamics solver for CFD simulations, free for fully featured use on a single device including GPUs, with paid annual unlimited-use licenses for broader deployment.
- HiPer CFD High-fidelity, scale-resolving CFD simulation tool using wall-modelled LES, immersed boundary methods, and finite-difference Navier-Stokes; runs 200M cells on a 24GB consumer gaming GPU.
- EPIC On-demand cloud HPC service providing seamless access to AWS EC2 instances (C5, P3, P4) with interactive desktop nodes accessible via DCV browser, and consulting services for HPC resource optimisation.
- AirSight Service for safer drone and UAV operations that performs highly accurate simulations of natural environment combined with high-resolution building models to predict turbulent air areas, feeding data into flight control systems or mission planners.
- Aerospace Consulting High-fidelity aerodynamic design analysis services for civil and defence aircraft development and modification, including support for transonic aircraft and low-speed platforms.
- Computational Aero-Acoustics Service Expert team providing next-generation aero-acoustics capabilities using CAA and CFD technology for noise reduction across aerospace, automotive, civil, and renewables sectors.
- Wind Farm Development Service CFD tools and specialists providing wind flow prediction, wind farm layout optimisation (wakes and blockage effects), and blade design analysis with fluid-structure interaction for the wind energy sector.
- Drone Aerodynamics and Flight Control Validation Physics-based aerodynamic modelling service providing high-fidelity CFD data and bespoke aerodynamic data packs for drone developers and operators to support design and flight control validation.
- Software Engineering Service Cloud HPC consulting and parallel/GPU software development services for companies looking to design, port, or optimise software for highly parallel architectures.
Quantifiable outcome
- AWS P4d simulation: 12-hour CPU job ($200) completed in 2+ hours at $75 cost
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Zenotech
Customer profileNamed customers9 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Zenotech technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
Feature6 records
Zenotech partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
14 partnerships are on record, tiered core, secondary and minor.
- ERCOFTACcoreDavid Standingford serves as 7th Chairperson of ERCOFTAC (European Research Community on Flow, Turbulence and Combustion). Zenotech is active member, sponsors ETMM conferences, and supports ERCOFTAC Knowledge Base WIKI.
- Bramble CFDcoreIntegration of Zenotech's advanced aero-acoustic simulation technology into Bramble CFD's cloud platform. Enables automotive manufacturers to run full car aero-acoustics simulations in 4 hours. Already deployed with Aston Martin.
- Flare BrightsecondaryJoint development of SafeZone project for next-generation drone flight safety. Two SMEs collaborating on UAV safety and commercial viability. Part of Future Flight Challenge.
- AirbuscoreLead partner in LANDOne project (Landing Advances for a New Decade) - a 4-year R&T programme funded by ATI, DBT, and Innovate UK. Develops next-generation computational aero-acoustics technologies for integrated landing system design. Zenotech contributes CAA expertise and cloud HPC.
- SafrancorePartner in LANDOne project with Airbus and Zenotech for next-generation landing system design solutions.
- Aerospace WalesminorMember of Aerospace Wales - trade body for aerospace, defence, and space sectors in Wales with over 170 members.
- Amazon AWScoreAWS Technology Partner and HPC Competency Launch Partner. EPIC provides seamless access to AWS EC2 instances (C5, P3, P4). zCFD optimized for AWS GPU instances. Customers can start simulations in just a few clicks. P4d instances offer 75% cost reduction vs CPU clusters for typical aerospace simulations.
- OraclesecondaryOracle Silver Partner. Cloud HPC services available via Oracle Cloud Marketplace.
- NvidiacoreTechnology partner. Zenotech's software is designed to exploit maximum power from NVIDIA GPU hardware. zCFD and HiPer optimized for NVIDIA GPUs. Presented at Nvidia GTC 2024.
- IntelsecondaryStrategic partner for software development. CFD and CAA software tuned for Intel hardware architectures.
- Imperial College LondoncoreStrategic partnership to develop advanced fluid dynamics simulation software. Peter Vincent from Imperial: 'This brings our leading fundamental research programme closer to industry - delivering high fidelity engineering technology.'
- University of BristolsecondaryUniversity partnership for research collaboration. Strategic partner logo displayed on website.
- DNV-GLsecondaryStrategic technology partner. Listed as partner logo on website footer.
- AerialworxminorSpecialist drone company partnered for SafeZone wind turbine inspection trials using AirSight exclusion zones.
Scale indicators2 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Zenotech competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Ansys: Dominant engineering simulation vendor behind Ansys Fluent, the incumbent CFD solver. Directly competes with zCFD and HiPer across aerospace, automotive and energy, with a vastly larger installed base, physics library and global sales coverage.
- Cadence Design Systems (NUMECA): Owns NUMECA's high-fidelity CFD tools (FINE/Open) used in turbomachinery and aerospace. Directly comparable to Zenotech's GPU-accelerated solver approach in scale-resolving CFD and overlaps in CAA/aero design.
- Siemens Digital Industries Software: Owner of Star-CCM+, a leading general-purpose CFD platform used across aerospace and automotive. Competes head-to-head with Zenotech in production CFD and benefits from deep integration with Siemens' broader PLM portfolio.
- Altair Engineering: Sells HyperWorks/UltraFluidX for high-fidelity external aerodynamics and aero-acoustics, competing directly with Zenotech's CAA and automotive workflows and offering a much broader simulation portfolio.
- Dassault Systèmes: Provider of SIMULIA (including Abaqus and PowerFLOW CFD), a major enterprise simulation suite. Targets the same aerospace and automotive OEMs as Zenotech with a much broader multiphysics portfolio.
Direct peers
- OpenCFD (OpenFOAM): Steward of the OpenFOAM open-source CFD toolbox, widely used in academia and industry including wind energy and aerospace. Represents the open-source alternative to zCFD and HiPer at the same price-sensitive customer tier.
- Rescale: Cloud HPC platform that hosts third-party engineering solvers on AWS/Azure. Directly comparable to Zenotech's EPIC service as a cloud HPC layer for simulation, with a broader multi-vendor marketplace.
- Convergent Science: Developer of CONVERGE, a CFD solver with mesh-agnostic, automated meshing aimed at internal combustion and propulsion. Similar in size and specialism to Zenotech and targets overlapping engine/aerospace customers.
Emerging players
- SimScale: Cloud-native, browser-based CFD/CAE platform with a freemium entry tier. Competes with EPIC in democratizing access to CFD via SaaS, though it does not own proprietary solvers to the depth zCFD and HiPer provide.
- Prometheus: GPU-native unstructured CFD startup offering a similar performance-focused, GPU-accelerated solver positioning to zCFD/HiPer, aimed at aerospace and defense customers.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Zenotech social profiles
Digital presenceZenotech financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Zenotech leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles11 records
Zenotech funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Zenotech M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Zenotech
What does Zenotech do?
Zenotech develops and sells GPU-accelerated high-performance computing (HPC) software for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and computational aero-acoustics (CAA), including the proprietary zCFD and HiPer solvers. The company also operates EPIC, an on-demand cloud HPC platform, and provides specialist engineering consultancy across aerospace, automotive, wind energy, and drone/UAV sectors. Its offering combines proprietary simulation software, cloud infrastructure, and domain-specific consulting services for engineering and research customers.
Is Zenotech a public or private company?
Zenotech is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Zenotech founded?
Zenotech was founded in 2012. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Zenotech based?
Zenotech is headquartered in Bristol, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Zenotech make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Software Licensing (zCFD and HiPer) is the primary driver. The others are consulting Services and cloud HPC (EPIC).
Who are Zenotech's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Ansys, Cadence Design Systems (NUMECA), Siemens Digital Industries Software, Altair Engineering and Dassault Systèmes. Direct peers are OpenCFD (OpenFOAM), Rescale and Convergent Science. Emerging players are SimScale and Prometheus.
Does Zenotech have an API?
No public API is recorded for Zenotech.
What industry is Zenotech in?
Zenotech's product category is Computational Fluid Dynamics Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDACAOAC, GPU-Accelerated HPC Systems, with a secondary code of HDACAOAB, HPC Clusters & Scale-Out Compute (x86/ARM). Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7372.