Data centres produce a lot of heat – so much so that Microsoft has trialled deploying them in containers on the seafloor. Keeping them cool, which is often done using noisy fans, guzzles lots of energy.
Sheffield-based Iceotope has taken a different approach, using liquid immersion cooling technologies that it claims is a low-cost approach that also reduces the IT infrastructure sector’s carbon emissions.
The British company has now raised £30m in a Series B funding round, catching the eye of Singapore-based investment firm ABC Impact, which led the company’s funding round.
Other investors in the round include British Patient Capital, Northern Gritstone, Pavilion Capital, and existing investor, Edinv.
British Patient Capital, a subsidiary of the government-owned British Business Bank, invested £5m in Iceotope through its Future Fund: Breakthrough.
Judith Hartley, CEO of British Patient Capital, said that Iceotope is “precisely” the type of business that Future Fund: Breakthrough – a £375m programme to invest in growth stage UK companies – was “designed to support”.
Founded in 2011, Iceotope completed its $10m Series A funding round back in 2014.
The company recently formed a partnership with nVent to provide modular integrated solutions for data centres, edge facilities, and high-performance computing applications
“This significant investment, the largest amount so far invested in liquid cooling, is a testament to the great work of our designers, as well as the many technology and channel partners that have placed their trust in our ability to cool data centre servers more efficiently in a vertical rack form factor,” said David Craig, CEO of Iceotope Technologies.