Female-led Apheros gets $1.85m to cool down data centres

• Apheros patented manufacturing process surpasses traditional solutions by a factor of thousand, which translates into exceptional heat transfer and flow properties.

Female-led Swiss Deep Tech start-up Apheros has secured a $1.85 million funding round seizing to develop innovative cooling solutions for data centres and the high-power computing industry.

Its high-performance metal foams maximise heat dissipation, optimise fluid flow, and reduce energy consumption, addressing the most crucial cooling challenges faced by industry.

With unprecedented demand for digital infrastructure driven by the surge in the use of AI, machine learning and supercomputing, an estimated six per cent of global energy consumption will be used specifically for cooling data centres by 2030.

 The pre-seed funding round, led by venture capital firm Founderful, will accelerate development and deployment of Apheros’ revolutionary metal foam-based cooling solutions.

Reducing energy consumption

The Apheros patented manufacturing process creates unique foam structures with completely open porosity and unparalleled surface area, surpassing traditional solutions by a factor of thousand, which translates into exceptional heat transfer and flow properties.

Ideal for high performance cooling applications, Apheros’ metal foams are easily integrated within its customers’ existing cooling systems. They address customers’ urgent needs of reduced energy consumption and cooling costs. 

Apheros AG, founded in August 2023, was developed as an ETH Zurich spin-off to tackle cooling challenges in a wide range of applications including high-performance computing and mobile devices.

Apheros’ co-founder and CEO Julia Carpenter was recently named one of Switzerland’s Top 10 “Founders to Watch” for her invention of Apheros novel metal foam manufacturing process. Co-founder and CTO Gaëlle Andreatta, has over 16 years of experience in R&D, Tech Transfer, and start-up development.

Dire need

“Our technology has the potential to significantly reduce the environmental impact of cooling solutions worldwide. The funding round will allow us to advance our mission of helping our customers achieve superior thermal performance, increase energy efficiency, and contribute to a greener future. Immediately, we will expand production, increase research and development efforts, and bring state-of-the-art solutions to a broader market,” Julia Carpenter, co-founder and CEO of Apheros, said.

Gaëlle Andreatta, co-founder and CTO of Apheros, said there is a dire need for more efficient cooling solutions.

“AI development is driving exponential growth in data center energy consumption and inefficient cooling is the main culprit. Our unique metal foams have superior heat exchange and fluid transport properties, especially for liquid and two-phase cooling. With our customers, we are redefining thermal management.”