Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how software is written, analysed, and deployed, but a growing challenge is emerging beneath the surface: the physical infrastructure powering AI systems is struggling to keep pace. As advanced AI models demand increasingly dense computing environments, data centres face mounting pressure around cooling, energy consumption, deployment speed, and hardware scalability. At the same time, developing new industrial technologies traditionally requires years of engineering, materials research, and manufacturing complexity. London based deeptech company Orbital Industries believes AI itself can dramatically accelerate that process by redesigning how industrial hardware is developed from the ground up.
Orbital Industries has raised $50 million in a Series B funding round led by Plural.
The round also included participation from existing investors including NVentures, Radical Ventures, Compound, and Fly Ventures.
The company plans to use the funding to scale its data centre infrastructure products, expand engineering and AI teams, and accelerate development of industrial applications beyond computing infrastructure.
Building an “AI Industrial” Model
Founded by Jonathan Godwin, James Gin Pollock, and Daniel Miodovnik, Orbital Industries is developing what it describes as an “AI industrial” model.
The company integrates materials discovery, engineering simulation, and manufacturing workflows into a unified system designed to accelerate the development of physical technologies.
Orbital Industries believes advances in frontier AI are allowing smaller engineering teams to move far more quickly from scientific discovery to commercial hardware development.
According to Godwin, AI systems can now provide expertise across multiple scientific disciplines simultaneously, dramatically reducing development timelines that historically required large teams and many years of research.
Addressing Data Centre Challenges
Orbital Industries is initially focused on data centre infrastructure through Orbital IT, its commercial division developing cooling and deployment systems for high density AI computing environments.
As AI workloads continue increasing, traditional cooling technologies are approaching technical and operational limitations.
Modern GPUs and AI compute systems generate enormous amounts of heat while consuming increasing levels of power, creating major challenges for data centre operators.
To address this, Orbital Industries has developed a dielectric cooling fluid and refrigeration system specifically designed for next generation AI infrastructure.
According to the company, the fluid was developed using its own materials discovery platform and is free from PFAS chemicals, which have faced increasing environmental scrutiny globally.
Accelerating Materials Discovery Through Simulation
At the core of Orbital Industries’ technology stack is Orb, a proprietary simulation engine designed to model the quantum mechanical behaviour of atoms at scale.
The company says the platform allows significantly faster materials simulations compared with traditional methods.
This capability is intended to accelerate development of industrial technologies ranging from advanced cooling systems to future hardware and manufacturing applications.
Orbital Industries believes combining AI, simulation, and manufacturing into a single development workflow could fundamentally reshape industrial innovation timelines.
Modular Infrastructure for AI Expansion
Beyond cooling systems, the company is also developing modular data centre infrastructure designed to speed up deployment of new compute capacity.
Rather than constructing infrastructure entirely on site, Orbital Industries manufactures modular systems off site and delivers them as ready to deploy units.
The company says this approach can significantly shorten deployment timelines as global demand for AI infrastructure continues growing rapidly.
Expanding Beyond Data Centres
While data centre infrastructure represents Orbital Industries’ first major commercial focus, the company sees broader industrial applications for its AI driven engineering model.
The newly secured funding will support continued expansion into additional industrial technologies where accelerated materials discovery, simulation, and manufacturing could reduce development cycles and operational complexity.
As AI increasingly reshapes not only software but also physical engineering and industrial systems, companies capable of combining artificial intelligence with real world manufacturing are becoming an important part of the next generation of industrial technology infrastructure.
Orbital Industries is positioning itself at the centre of that transition by using AI not simply as software, but as a foundational engine for industrial innovation itself.