Exclusive: This energy startup’s bet on 100-year-old grid tech is paying off | TechCrunch

Last day to exhibit your breakthrough to 10,000+ tech leaders at Disrupt is on Oct 2. Book Exhibit Table Now. Disrupt doors open Oct. 13. Get your pass and bring someone with you at 50% off. REGISTER NOW. Demand for electrical transformers, fueled in part by AI data centers, has grown so high that one prominent investor is backing a new startup that uses a very old technology. Ayr Energy makes transformers with iron-cores, the same basic tech used in the grid for over a century. A number of other startups have popped up to dethrone the iron-core transformer, but Ayr and its investors think there’s plenty of life left in the old tech. Judging by the company’s order book, now north of $500 million, they might be right. “We were considering multiple forms of capital when we started,” Anirudh Reddy, co-founder and CEO of Ayr, exclusively told TechCrunch. “It just felt like the opportunity is so large that venture capital gives us the opportunity to take those risks upfront and have the possibility to generate an outsized return.” That opportunity has attracted investors, including Energy Impact Partners. So far, the startup has raised $25 million across two rounds. That’s not something