A proposed Utah data center project has been drastically reduced in size following backlash from lawmakers and the public. The facility was originally planned to span an area nearly three times larger than Manhattan.
The unnamed Shark Tank investor's data center ambitions hit significant resistance, prompting a major scaling back of the project's footprint. Lawmakers cited concerns over land use, environmental impact, and resource consumption.
The controversy reflects broader tensions around data center expansion in the U.S., particularly regarding their environmental costs and land demands. A separate case in an unnamed city highlighted similar issues, where donated farmland intended for a public park was repurposed for a data center instead.
Meanwhile, the data center industry continues consolidating around efficiency solutions. ZincFive Inc., which supplies specialized batteries for data center operations, agreed to go public through a merger with SparkLabs Group's SPAC at a $600 million pre-money valuation. The move signals investor confidence in technologies aimed at optimizing data center infrastructure—even as projects face mounting scrutiny over their physical expansion.
Natural secured $30M in Series A funding led by Forerunner Ventures, bringing the company's total raised to $40M. The platform enables AI agents to execute autonomous payment transactions for enterprise operations.
Sarah Guo, Greylock's youngest general partner, founded Conviction in 2022 and has since backed six of the 21 AI-native companies valued at $10 billion or more.
Gritt has exited stealth mode with $34 million in funding to deploy robots for automating difficult tasks on construction sites, starting with solar plant installation.
De-extinction startup Colossal Biosciences is in talks to raise new capital at a valuation between $20 billion and $30 billion, potentially doubling or tripling its previous valuation.