Rune raises $40m Series A to put AI compute at solar farms
Its RELIC units draw power directly from solar generation, creating a use for electricity that would otherwise be curtailed or clipped.
Rune places modular GPU systems at operating solar plants. RELIC runs on the direct-current power those plants generate, consuming electricity on site before it reaches the grid. Solar operators supply sites and energy; compute customers reserve capacity for workloads such as AI inference. This links two markets through the same installation: unused generation and demand for computing power.
The launch includes an operating deployment at a 200 MW solar facility in Texas. The system’s appeal is the ability to use an existing energy asset and avoid waiting for a separate data-center grid connection. Rune says RELIC is live at its initial partner sites. Spark Capital led the financing, which brings the company’s total funding to $53.5m.
What the funding supports
- Expand solar power partnerships and compute customer deployments
Rune
Modular GPU computing systems deployed at solar plants, using direct-current electricity that would otherwise be curtailed or clipped to supply AI workloads.
Company profile and funding history