Applied Computing raises £15m led by KBR with Databricks Ventures
This article covers Applied Computing, a London AI startup, which has raised £15m in a growth funding round led by US engineering group KBR, with Databricks Ventures joining as a new investor to fund a Houston office and expanded AI research. The funding will support development and deployment of its Orbital foundation model for energy operations, targeting upstream, downstream and petrochemical operators.
Applied Computing, a London AI startup, has raised £15 million in a growth funding round led by US engineering group KBR, with Databricks Ventures joining as a new investor. The cash will fund a Houston office and expanded AI research as the company pushes its Orbital foundation model into energy operations — a niche where domain accuracy matters and mistakes can be costly.
Why it matters
The deal highlights a growing industry bet: that vertically focused foundation models trained on sector data and engineering principles can be more useful than general-purpose systems for critical infrastructure. Energy operators face safety, regulatory and margin risks that make model reliability essential. Strategic backing from a firm such as KBR gives Applied Computing both domain data and routes to market that are hard for consumer-oriented AI companies to replicate.
Inside the product
Applied Computing’s core product, Orbital, blends large language model architecture with time-series telemetry, physics and chemical engineering models. The company designs the system specifically for upstream, downstream and petrochemical operations rather than adapting a general-purpose model. Applied Computing says Orbital can ingest a much larger share of facility data than traditional analytics approaches, and KBR has already shipped a product, INSITE 3.0, that runs on Orbital.
The technical approach aims to close the gap between pattern recognition and engineering constraints: coupling data-driven predictions with domain rules and time-series context to reduce operational risk. If it works at scale, operators could use the models for anomaly detection, process optimisation and decision support where existing tools capture only a small percentage of actionable data.
Who are the investors?
The round was led by KBR, the Houston-headquartered engineering and construction group that will distribute Applied Computing’s energy products under a multi-year agreement. KBR’s involvement brings process engineering data and global operator relationships, and it has already commercialised INSITE 3.0 on top of Orbital.
Databricks Ventures joined as a new investor, signalling interest from the data-platform and machine-learning ecosystem in domain-specific AI for heavy industry. Applied Computing previously raised about £9 million in a seed round in May 2025.
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Founder perspective
Applied Computing was founded in 2023 by Callum Adamson and Dr Sam Tukra. The company has kept headquarters in London, runs development and operations from Bengaluru, and has opened a Houston office to be closer to US energy customers. The team has also appointed Dan Jeavons, formerly head of AI at Shell, as president to strengthen operator credibility and commercial relationships. The company says a first partnership with a European oil major will be announced within weeks.
The bigger picture
This funding round is a test of a broader thesis in UK and European AI: that building deep, industry-specific models backed by corporate partners offers a practical path to commercial traction. Applied Computing’s London-Bengaluru-Houston footprint and engineering partnerships underline how UK AI companies can combine local research talent with global industrial partners.
The deal also reflects growing interest from AI investors in specialised models for regulated sectors, where product adoption depends as much on trust and integration as on raw model capability.
Applied Computing’s progress will be watched by operators and investors across the UK and Europe as a measure of whether vertical foundation models can move beyond prototypes into mission-critical energy deployments.
They've invested in Applied Computing
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| Investors | Investment Focus | Startup Investments | Round Size | Connect |
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