Energy tech startup secures funding to scale operations that eliminate gas flaring and curtailed renewable energy
Unblock, the energy infrastructure company turning stranded energy into computing power, announced $13.5 million in total funding led by Goldcrest Capital and Collaborative Fund. Argentina’s energy powerhouses Pampa Energia and Grupo Sielecki joined this round along with FJ Labs, NYDIG, Luxor Technology, Sunna Ventures, and prominent Latin American entrepreneurs.
Unblock deploys modular data centers at remote energy production sites. These data centers capture gas that would otherwise be flared or renewable energy that gets curtailed. The result: economic value for producers and 142,000 tons of CO2 eliminated annually.
“We are building at the crossroads of AI’s explosive energy demand and Latin America’s vast bottlenecked energy resources,” said Tomas Ocampo, CEO and founder. “Latin America’s infrastructure constraints create the perfect breeding ground for flexible computing. We envision an elastic computing network that flexibilizes midstream infrastructure while also smoothing volatility in the power grid.”
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“At Collaborative Fund, we back companies that make the world better while delivering strong financial returns,” said Craig Wilson, Partner at Collaborative Fund. “Unblock’s approach represents exactly that. Tomas’ and the team’s vision along with their impeccable execution convinced us to partner.”
Rapid Scale Meets Demand
Argentina’s fast-growing flaring problem drives Unblock’s rapid scale. The company operates the world’s second-largest computing fleet at oil field facilities. Two major projects will double Unblock’s capacity by September.
“We were super excited to partner with Unblock,” said Dan Friedland, Managing Partner at Goldcrest Capital. “The combination of already de-risked technology with strong local execution makes them uniquely positioned to capture Latin America’s massive stranded energy opportunity. Their growth from 0 to 15MW in just over a year speaks volumes about their ability to execute.”
This funding fuels Unblock’s aggressive hiring across their engineering and field operations teams. The company is also vertically integrating data center production locally and further accelerating their expansion across Latin America.
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