Zitara Technologies

Zitara Technologies is a San Francisco-based battery management software company founded in 2019 by Shyam Srinivasan (CEO) and Evan Murphy (CTO). The company builds advanced, on-premise software solutions designed to dramatically improve the safety, reliability, and operational performance of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). Its core products - Zitara Power, Zitara Balance, and Zitara Insight - analyze real-time cell-level sensor data (voltage, current, and temperature) to produce highly accurate state-of-charge, state-of-power, and imbalance signals that replace the error-prone outputs of standard onboard battery management systems. By running directly on-site, Zitara eliminates the latency and connectivity risks of cloud-only solutions, enabling operators to unlock up to 15% additional dispatchable capacity from existing assets.

Zitara's technology addresses a critical gap in grid-scale energy storage operations: built-in battery management systems degrade in accuracy over time as batteries age and chemistry changes, leading to surprise shutdowns, suboptimal trading strategies, and costly downtime. Zitara's physics-based models characterize each specific battery cell - accounting for age, chemistry, and position within the system - to deliver dynamic safety limits and actionable service alerts before problems become catastrophic. The platform is OEM-agnostic, allowing utilities, independent power producers, and grid operators to manage and compare assets across manufacturers with consistent, trustworthy data. Its team draws on experience from Tesla, Cruise, Waymo, and Gogoro.

Zitara is strategically significant to the US energy supply chain as grid-scale battery storage becomes essential for integrating renewable energy and ensuring grid reliability. The company attracted investment from blue-chip strategic backers including Salesforce Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, and Emerson Ventures, reflecting strong industrial and energy-sector validation. In January 2026, Zitara was acquired by Elysia, the battery intelligence software division of Australian mining and green energy giant Fortescue, combining Zitara's real-time on-premises controls with Elysia's cloud analytics to create one of the most comprehensive BESS intelligence platforms globally - with immediate deployment planned across Fortescue's 4-5 GWh of US, Australian, and European storage installations.