Vela Energy

What it does

Vela is building the AI workforce for power delivery. Its live project model connects utility studies, electrical designs, equipment records, and schedules, enabling agents to evaluate power configurations, source compatible equipment, prepare interconnection submissions, and trace changes across engineering, procurement, cost, and schedule. Developers and EPCs can see what capacity can be energized, when, and what must happen to get there. CEO Tarun Batchu is a patented environmental engineer who began building energy technologies at 12 and withdrew from Berkeley MET to build Vela. COO Tony Li previously worked at Tesla, published energy research at 16, and worked on federal energy and defense contracts at Quasar Energy Group. Early hires bring experience from SpaceX/xAI, Google, Zipline, Photon, and Amazon. Advisors have led hundreds of millions of dollars in power-infrastructure investment. Vela has raised $1.3M from a16z Speedrun and Z Fellows.