As AI data centers hit power limits, Peak XV backs Indian startup C2i to fix the bottleneck

Peak XV Partners led a 15 million dollar Series A round in C2i Semiconductors. The two-year-old Indian startup develops plug-and-play, system-level power solutions for AI data centers. The round included participation from Yali Deeptech and TDK Ventures and raised the company's total funding to 19 million dollars. C2i is redesigning power delivery as an integrated grid-to-GPU platform that spans the data center bus to the processor. The company estimates the approach can cut end-to-end losses Data center electricity consumption is projected to nearly triple C2i was founded in 2024 in Bengaluru Rajan Anandan, managing director at Peak XV Partners, said energy costs become the dominant ongoing expense for data centers after upfront capital investments in servers and facilities. He noted that reductions of 10 to 30 percent in energy costs could amount to tens of billions of dollars. Anandan said the semiconductor design ecosystem in India is just getting started, comparable to e-commerce in 2008.