Applied Computing, a London-based startup building foundational AI models for the oil, gas and petrochemical industries, has raised a $20 million Series A investment led by engineering giant KBR, with participation from Databricks Ventures.
Founded in 2023, the startup targets oil, gas, refining and petrochemical systems, where a single facility can have thousands of sensors measuring everything from temperature and pressure to speed and viscosity. There is a huge market for helping energy companies solve their data tracking problems, but fragmentation presents significant obstacles.
As a result, facilities use less than 8% of available data to make operational decisions, says Callum Adamson (pictured above, right), co-founder and CEO of Applied Computing. He said operators are already collecting much of this information, but are struggling to quickly combine sensor readings, engineering documentation, physics and chemistry to analyze and make predictions.
“Getting these three data sources talking to each other in real time is what’s really key,” he told TechCrunch.
Applied Computing says that unlike large language models that predict the next word, its underlying model, Orbital, combines time series models, physics-based models, and language models to predict facility conditions. It does this by analyzing sensor readings, keeping physics and chemistry in mind, and recognizing the facility’s equipment constraints and operator activities. Technicians can also run simulations to see how changes in one part of the facility could affect the rest of the operation.
At its core, Applied Computing is all about speed. Orbital claims it can flag anomalies, investigate causes, and model whether proposed fixes might cause problems elsewhere in the facility. All of this happens within minutes. Adamson claims the product shortens surveys that previously took days or weeks to seconds, allowing operators to reduce energy use and maintain production.
The promise of speed seems to have found believers. The startup says it grew annual recurring revenue from stealth to double-digit millions in less than 18 months. Adamson said Orbital is used by some “publicly listed” upstream oil and gas, downstream refining and petrochemical companies, but declined to say how many customers it has.
Partners include KBR, which has integrated Indian energy companies Wipro and Orbital into its INSITE 3.0 digital platform for energy projects and is using the product for ammonia production. Adamson said the startup is also working with “major upstream operators in the U.S.” and plans to announce a partnership with a European oil major in the coming weeks.
Nonetheless, Applied Computing is entering a market that has become entrenched among industrial software providers and more focused AI startups. AspenTech sells simulation and AI-based modeling software for upstream, refining and chemical operations, while AVEVA provides physics-based process simulation, optimization and “what-if” modeling for industrial plants. Cognite and Seeq target the data layer to help facilities analyze industrial data and apply AI to design workflows.
Adamson argues that the company’s moat is not its access to industry data or process knowledge, but its gathering of AI researchers to build models that can compete with Orbital.
“This is an AI problem. It’s not a data problem. It’s not an energy problem,” he said. “If you were a first-tier AI researcher, where would you work? … I don’t think Shell would be on that list.”
Adamson also pointed to the data Orbital receives through its distribution. He said operating data from refineries and other energy facilities is typically not publicly available, while simulated data cannot fully replicate what happens inside a working plant.
The KBR partnership could also benefit the company. Adamson said the partnership gives Applied Computing access to operational data and industry expertise, as well as referrals to a wider audience.
Applied Computing plans to use the $20 million to expand internationally, hire for research and engineering roles, and explore deployments with energy customers.
The company said Thursday it was also opening an office in Houston and adding a headquarters in London and an operating hub in Bengaluru. Adamson said the U.S. base brings the startup closer to two of its existing customers in North America and is also in the process of expanding into the Middle East.
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