Orbital Industries
London-based ex-DeepMind startup developing industrial hardware and AI cooling fluids for high-density compute data centres.
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Podcast Episode
🎙️ Deep Dive
Orbital Industries, Kopa.ai, Atheni — industrial AI, agents and operational adoption — Daily News May 28, 2026
Listen to the episodeAbout Orbital Industries
Orbital Industries (formerly Orbital Materials) applies AI-driven engineering and materials discovery to accelerate industrial hardware development. Its core focus is AI data centre infrastructure: it has developed a PFAS-free dielectric fluid and immersive cooling systems for next-generation GPUs. The company holds a multi-year partnership with AWS and operates offices in London and San Francisco. The Orb dielectric cooling fluid for immersive GPU cooling targets data centre operators, with AWS cited as a multi-year partner, competing with traditional data centre cooling vendors. The $50M Series B funds production at scale.
The Story
Founded in 2022 as Orbital Materials by Jonathan Godwin (ex-DeepMind, CEO), James Gin-Pollock (CTO) and Daniel Miodovnik (COO). Rebranded to Orbital Industries in 2026 following a pivot towards hardware and data centre infrastructure.
How Orbital Industries works
Business Model
B2B industrial hardware and AI infrastructure for data centre operators.
Revenue Model
Not verified; includes hardware product sales, commercial partnerships and technology licensing.
Products & Services
Key Products
- Orb dielectric cooling fluid
- Immersive cooling systems for GPUs
- Modular data centre infrastructure
Core Use Cases
- AI data centre cooling
- High-density GPU deployment
- Materials discovery for industrial hardware
Market & Clients
Key Customers
Data centre operators including AWS (multi-year partnership); other enterprise customers not disclosed.
Geographic Presence
How Orbital Industries competes
Competitors
Competitive Advantages
- AI-driven engineering platform
- PFAS-free dielectric cooling fluid
- Materials discovery capability
- AWS partnership
How Orbital Industries grows
Growth Strategy
Scale data centre products, expand AI and engineering teams, develop industrial applications beyond data centres.
Distribution Model
B2B enterprise and infrastructure sales; strategic partnerships.
Moat (Defensibility)
Materials simulation, industrial design workflow, proprietary cooling systems, AWS partnership and deployment know-how.
Regulatory Context
Chemical safety regulations for cooling fluids; data centre infrastructure standards; environmental compliance.
Key Risks
- Hardware scale-up complexity
- Data centre procurement cycles
- Reliability validation
- Competition from incumbents
Strategic Insights
- AI growth creates physical bottlenecks in energy, cooling and deployment that no one was addressing.
- AI and materials discovery can dramatically compress industrial development timelines.
- Data centre infrastructure has become a high-barrier strategic market for deeptech startups.
Funding & Investors
Funding Rounds
- 2026 - Series B: $50M
Lead: Plural
Key Investors
Founding Team
Founders
Key Metrics
Lessons from Orbital Industries
- When everyone looks at AI models, look for the infrastructure bottlenecks.
- Real competitive advantage can come from integrating AI, materials and manufacturing.
- Physical markets reward teams that solve performance, cost and deployment together.
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