Barocal raises £7.4m to commercialise refrigerant‑free solid‑state cooling for data centres
This article covers Barocal, a Cambridge greentech startup spun out of the University of Cambridge, which has raised £7.4m in a growth funding round. The funding will accelerate engineering hires and commercial development of its solid-state cooling and heating platform, aimed at data centre and commercial refrigeration markets and intended to reduce emissions from vapour-compression systems.
Barocal, a Cambridge greentech startup spun out of the University of Cambridge, has raised £7.4m in a growth funding round to accelerate engineering hires and commercial development of its solid-state cooling and heating platform. The technology replaces conventional vapour-compression systems and aims to cut the heating and cooling sector’s emissions while opening new options for data centre and commercial refrigeration cooling.
Why it matters
Heating and cooling account for a substantial share of global greenhouse gas emissions, and demand for cooling is rising rapidly as digital infrastructure and higher-temperature regions expand. Barocal’s approach promises two outcomes that matter to decarbonisation and operations teams alike: removing high-global-warming refrigerant gases from systems, and improving energy efficiency compared with legacy vapour-compression units. If realised at scale, those gains could lower both operational costs and the sector’s climate footprint.
Inside the product
Barocal is commercialising organic barocaloric materials that heat and cool under pressure via pressure-driven phase transitions. The company holds patents on a platform that uses those solid-state materials to generate temperature changes without refrigerant gases. Barocal says the platform is designed to reach cost parity with vapour-compression systems while offering higher efficiency and greater resilience against refrigerant degradation and leakage.
Initial commercial targets are data centre cooling and commercial refrigeration — areas with high, concentrated cooling demand. The team points to a large addressable market: the global HVAC market is estimated around £332.3bn today and expected to grow over the coming decade. Barocal also won a £739k 2025 TERA-Award that the company says will support system development milestones ahead of commercial pilots.
Who are the investors?
The round was funded by a group of climate-focused backers including World Fund, Breakthrough Energy Discovery, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures and IP Group. IP Group confirmed a £2m contribution to the financing. World Fund, which manages a multi-hundred-million euro climate-focused vehicle, lists investments across energy, industry, the built environment, transportation, food, agriculture and biotech; Breakthrough Energy Discovery provided earlier support through its Fellows programme.
In the announcement, Mark Windeknecht, Principal at World Fund, said:
Barocal has achieved what scientists have struggled to do for decades – a materials breakthrough delivering solid-state materials that finally enable new cooling and heating platform technology that competes with vapour-based incumbents. We are extremely proud to be supporting this world-leading scientific team as they commercialise.
In the announcement, Ashley Grosh, Head of Breakthrough Energy Discovery, said:
Buildings account for roughly 7% of global emissions, and decarbonising heating and cooling is essential to address that impact. We first supported Barocal through the Breakthrough Energy Fellows program, where Professor Moya’s rigorous, years-long research into caloric materials stood out for its technical depth and commercial potential. This most recent investment reflects our continued confidence in the team as they scale a solid-state alternative to vapour compression that is cleaner, more efficient and fundamentally rethinks how we deliver comfort.
In the announcement, Dr Lee Thornton, Partner, Deeptech, IP Group plc, said:
IP Group is proud to back Barocal’s latest round with a £2m investment, which will enable the company to reach its next milestones as it scales up to commercial reality. Barocal’s innovation promises massive efficiency gains in heat transfer systems for data centres, refrigeration, and home cooling, which will result in material reductions in energy and climate impacts. This is the classic type of transformational company we back at IP Group.
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Founder perspective
In the announcement, Professor Xavier Moya, Founder of Barocal, said:
Heating and cooling have always been the elephant in the room when it comes to emissions, and ours is a set of materials that could change history. We are building something truly revolutionary. The world can only hit a 1.5 degree target if we cut emissions by around half – solving heating and cooling emissions would achieve that goal. I am thrilled to be partnering with investors who will support us to commercialise and scale our technology before the planet runs out of time.
Moya founded the company in 2019 after more than 15 years of research into caloric materials, funded in part by Royal Society and European Research Council grants. The new funding will be used to grow Barocal’s engineering and commercial teams and push towards system-level demonstrations.
The bigger picture
Materials-driven approaches to thermal management are gaining attention from greentech investors as regulators and customers seek refrigerant-free alternatives and efficiency gains. Barocal sits at the intersection of deep materials science and practical thermal engineering — a combination that often requires patient capital and close collaboration with industrial partners to reach commercial scale.
Barocal’s progress will be watched by data centre operators, refrigeration manufacturers and policymakers focused on building decarbonisation. If the company can demonstrate reliable, cost-competitive systems, it could add a new pathway for cutting emissions from a sector that is under increasing scrutiny in the UK and across Europe.
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