Zanskar Secures $115M in Series C Funding for AI-Driven Geothermal Energy

January 21, 2026 did not arrive quietly in Salt Lake City. It showed up with boots on the ground, core samples on the table, and a $115M Series C that tells you Zanskar Geothermal & Minerals is done asking for permission. Founded in January 2019 by Carl Hoiland and Joel Edwards, Zanskar was built by two geologists who met fifteen years ago in the Himalayas and decided the geothermal industry was stuck romanticizing surface steam while ignoring the heat hiding underground.

Spring Lane Capital led the round, joined by a deep bench that reads like a climate conviction index, with Obvious Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Munich Re Ventures, and a long tail of infrastructure and growth capital that does not chase science projects. Jason Scott of Spring Lane Capital is joining the board, bringing a résumé shaped by Generation Investment Management, Encourage Capital, and decades of disciplined climate investing. This is money that expects steel in the ground and electrons on the grid.

Zanskar earns that expectation. The company has a 100% exploration success rate across three major projects in 12 months, confirming more than 100 megawatts of geothermal potential. At Lightning Dock in New Mexico, a single well drilled to roughly 8,000 feet now runs a full 15 megawatt plant after hitting 330 degree Fahrenheit fluids and flows north of 5,000 gallons per minute. The site stopped being reservoir limited and started being equipment limited, which is a good problem if you know how to build.

In Nevada, the wordplay gets literal. Pumpernickel is moving toward development with a planned 20 megawatt first phase, while Big Blind lives up to its name. No hot springs. No steam. No surface clues. Just two wells drilled in mid 2025 that hit a 250 degree reservoir at 2,700 feet. The first commercially viable blind geothermal discovery in more than thirty years, hiding in plain sight, waiting for models that see patterns humans miss.

This is not software cosplay. Zanskar is vertically integrated, leasing land, drilling wells, building plants, and operating assets. Carl Hoiland leads the vision. Joel Edwards runs the science and the field. Patrick Walsh joined as COO in January 2025 to scale execution. Diego D'Sola is structuring the financing stack for six power plants over the next few years. Ben Brenner is clearing the federal lanes. The pipeline already tops 700 megawatts, with more heat mapped behind it.

Zanskar is named after a Himalayan valley carved by pressure and time. Fitting. This company is not loud about the future. It is busy drilling into it, one blind spot at a time, and leaving the rest of the market to decide how much longer it wants to guess where the heat really is.