Critical Energy Systems, founded in 2024 by former SpaceX engineer Spencer Jackson, has raised $19 million in seed equity funding as part of a larger $22 million early capital infusion (including $3 million in venture debt from Silicon Valley Bank).
Critical Energy’s $19 million round was led by Susa Ventures and Upfront Ventures, with participation from MaC Venture Capital, Susquehanna Sustainable Investments, Humba Ventures, Scribble Ventures, and Underground Ventures. This brings the company’s total funding to around $130 million in private investment when including prior rounds.
What is Critical Energy Systems?
Critical Energy develops factory built, modular power generation systems that convert heat into electricity using a closed loop organic Rankine cycle or similar process. Specialized working fluid is vaporized by heat sources, drives a custom turbomachinery turbine and generator, then condenses and recirculates with no emissions or consumables.
Key targets include:
- Geothermal resources (especially next generation or enhanced geothermal).
- Waste heat recovery, such as from data center gas turbines.
Differentiators emphasize speed, cost, and scalability:
- Modules ship in standard containers and install in weeks (as little as two weeks on-site) versus years for traditional plants.
- Factory manufacturing standardizes hardware for lower costs and repeatability.
- Custom turbomachinery (drawing from Jackson’s rocket engine experience) adapts to varying temperatures, resources, and sites for high efficiency across conditions.
- Phased, modular deployment scales to project needs.
The approach applies SpaceX-style manufacturing and engineering, leveraging experience with Falcon Heavy, Starship, and Raptor engines, to create “Henry Ford-style” mass produced turbines for geothermal, addressing a key bottleneck: the shortage of suitable, quickly deployable turbines for geothermal projects.
The Seed round coincides with heightened interest in geothermal amid surging electricity demand from AI data centers, electrification, and industrial growth. Geothermal offers 24/7 baseload clean power, complementing intermittent renewables, but traditional development faces long timelines and high costs.
Funds will support building the first 2.5 MW project, with goals to demonstrate commercial viability and scale production. Jackson has expressed ambitions for gigawatts per year within 4-5 years and up to 300 GW annually by 2045, positioning the company to help meet massive U.S. power needs.
U.S. power demand is rising sharply due to data centers, EVs, manufacturing resurgence, and electrification. Geothermal has vast untapped potential but is constrained by drilling, permitting, and equipment timelines. Critical Energy’s modular, factory centric model directly tackles these by slashing deployment time and cost while enabling rapid scaling.
It aligns with broader trends:
- Hyperscaler and utility needs for reliable, dispatchable clean power.
- Waste heat recovery opportunities near industrial or data center sites.
- Policy and market tailwinds for domestic clean firm power.
Early validation includes podcast appearances, demo days, and investor excitement from climate and hardtech focused funds. A prototype or early system was spun up in a Los Angeles warehouse in 2025.
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Who founded Critical Energy?
Spencer Jackson (Founder & CEO) brings deep hardware and complex systems expertise from seven years at SpaceX in engineering leadership roles. He also served as Entrepreneur in Residence at NosTerra Ventures. The team focuses on turbomachinery, manufacturing, and energy systems.
As an early stage company (founded 2024, with a small team), execution risks include first of kind project delivery, supply chain scaling for factory production, site specific adaptations, and regulatory hurdles for geothermal. Competition exists in geothermal (e.g., Fervo) and broader modular power, but Critical Energy’s turbine focus carves a specialized niche.
The funding validates strong investor conviction in modular, manufacturable solutions for the clean firm power gap. With its first project targeted soon and aggressive scaling plans, Critical Energy aims to accelerate geothermal’s contribution to a low cost, abundant clean energy future.
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