Insider Brief
- TAR, which builds off-grid power systems for AI data centers, raised a $120 million Series A led by Spark Capital at a $1 billion post-money valuation, funding will expand its Austin HQ, San Francisco engineering office, and West Texas logistics operation.
- TAR builds self-contained, modular renewable energy and battery systems that avoid grid interconnection queues, verticalizing the full process from site selection and engineering to construction and ongoing operation.
- Founded by Pat Becker and Leonhard Soenke in 2026, TAR is currently executing a utility-scale deployment with a major neocloud and finishing TAR Terminal One, its manufacturing and logistics center in West Texas.
PRESS RELEASE — TAR, which builds off-grid power systems for AI data centers, has announced a $120 million Series A led by Spark Capital at a $1 billion post-money valuation. The funding will grow its Austin HQ and San Francisco engineering office, expand its West Texas logistics and manufacturing operation, and speed up deployments already underway.
Power is an increasingly obvious bottleneck for AI. Interconnection queues run years long, and data center projects keep stalling on grid capacity and local opposition. TAR doesn’t ask the grid for anything. It builds self-contained, modular systems of renewable energy generation and batteries in West Texas. Nothing it builds competes with a community for power.
TAR is approaching energy deployment differently by verticalizing the entire chain. TAR handles the full process from site selection to detailed engineering and design plans, procurement, logistics, civil works and construction, and full commissioning and ongoing operation. Doing so allows TAR to operate at an unprecedented pace by avoiding coordination across a wide range of slow-moving third parties.
Using their purpose-built deployment automation stack, TAR puts up generation capacity faster, at larger scale, and with far less field labor than conventional construction. The team pairs energy veterans from Hut 8, AES and Vistra with robotics engineers from Zipline, GrayMatter Robotics and Lucid Motors.
“To lead the frontier of AI after a lack of investment in the electrical grid for decades requires a complete rethinking of energy deployments. Gigawatt-scale deployments in tight time windows necessitate owning the full stack end-to-end,” said Pat Becker, co-founder of TAR.
“We are excited by the demand from our customers. Our focus now is scaling supply to make a real impact on the power shortage stopping the scaling of compute,” said Lenny Soenke, co-founder of TAR.
TAR is currently executing a utility-scale deployment in tandem with one of the largest neoclouds, developing a dedicated project campus, and finishing TAR Terminal One, its manufacturing and logistics center in West Texas.
“Power is becoming the main bottleneck to scaling compute. We will need innovation, unprecedented speed and exceptional companies unblocking it at every level,” said Will Reed, General Partner at Spark Capital.
TAR is hiring in Austin and San Francisco across engineering, robotics, power systems, operations, supply chain and project management. Leadership includes Jeff Silvan, Head of Projects (previously Hut 8, ON Energy); Christian Sanchez, Head of Power Systems (Zelestra, AES); and Raphael Levy, Head of Supply Chain (NineDot, Vistra). Open roles at tar.com/careers.
About
TAR builds off-grid power systems for AI data centers at gigawatt scale. Founded by Pat Becker and Leonhard Soenke in 2026, the company is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with engineering in San Francisco and manufacturing in West Texas. Backed by Spark Capital, Buckley Ventures, Align Fund and more. Learn more at tar.com.
Contacts
Press Contact:
Diana Vicinanza
VSC, on behalf of TAR
TAR@vsc.co
