Lazarus Energy has secured $16 million in seed funding to manufacture containerized power generators using supercritical carbon dioxide turbines, the Hawthorne, California startup disclosed in September 2026. The company aims to address what's become an acute constraint in artificial intelligence infrastructure: getting enough electricity to data centers fast enough to matter.
George Kitromelides and Luke Malcolm, both turbomachinery engineers who cut their teeth at Anduril Industries, are betting that the power crunch gripping the tech industry creates an opening for technology that's lingered in research labs for years. Their modular 5-megawatt generators ship in standard containers and can be installed in weeks, the company claims, versus the multi-year timelines typical for conventional power infrastructure.
Lazarus declined to identify its investors, though it participated in the 50/50 Accelerator program, which provides funding to cohort members.
The startup's pitch centers on physical efficiency. Supercritical CO₂ turbines occupy roughly one-tenth the footprint of traditional steam turbines and eliminate water cooling requirements entirely, according to the company—a meaningful advantage in regions where both real estate and water access constrain expansion.
"We developed a turbine from the ground up instead of trying to make a gas or steam turbine that was more efficient," Malcolm said in a company statement. The initial market target is data centers and other natural gas applications.
Timing Aligned With Infrastructure Scramble
The urgency around power delivery has intensified as AI workloads proliferate. Industry forecasts suggest AI-optimized servers could account for 31% of data center power consumption in 2026, while electrical grid capacity lags badly behind planned construction. A recent CBRE analysis identified power availability as the dominant factor in site selection decisions, eclipsing traditional considerations like labor costs or connectivity.
Natural gas proposals in the United States have surged in response. Filings for new gas-fired capacity doubled in the first half of 2026, according to Axios reporting, with AI demand cited as the primary driver.
Lazarus enters a narrow but active field. Echogen Power Systems has partnered with Westinghouse on supercritical CO₂ conversion equipment, while NET Power operates a demonstration facility incorporating the technology into its Allam-Fetvedt cycle. The Department of Energy funds research across nuclear, fossil fuel, concentrated solar, and geothermal applications, drawn by the technology's compact design and fuel flexibility.
Whether these systems can transition from promising prototypes to reliable commercial products remains the central question. Lazarus is assembling what it describes as a megawatt-class prototype at its facility on El Segundo Boulevard in Hawthorne. The company is hiring specialists in turbomachinery, thermofluids, and controls engineering. Job postings outline plans for a natural gas-fired system, with nuclear heat integration targeted for a later phase—timelines the company provided but which haven't been independently verified.
"Applying this ethos to supercritical carbon dioxide is what will take the technology out of the research lab and into the real world," Malcolm said, though he didn't elaborate on what specific obstacles have kept earlier efforts confined to demonstration projects.
The startup markets its units as heat-source agnostic, compatible with natural gas initially and adaptable to biogas, advanced nuclear reactors, or concentrated solar thermal down the line. That flexibility matters if fuel economics shift or carbon regulations tighten, though for now the business case rests on natural gas.
Lazarus says it plans to ship its first commercial deployment in 2027 and scale to low-rate production in 2028. The company lists a small team on LinkedIn and has not disclosed customer commitments. Whether a 5-megawatt unit—substantial for distributed generation but modest against utility-scale projects—can gain traction in a market dominated by established turbine manufacturers and grid-tied solutions is perhaps the more immediate test than the technology itself.
For now, the founders are wagering that data center operators desperate for reliable power will embrace systems that can arrive on a truck.
