Cooling startup Pascal announced that it has raised $8.5 million in a post-seed funding round, with joint participation from Sazze Partners and LB Investment, alongside a contribution from KDB Silicon Valley. This funding was driven by the company signing an early contract with a multinational beverage corporation to implement a pilot project for its new heat pump and cooling systems technology.
The technology developed by co-founder and CEO Adam Slavney and co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Jinyoung Seo relies on an alternative class of refrigerants known as solid-state refrigerants. The discovery began by chance when researchers, while working at Harvard University, noticed unexpected measurement results when using gases under high pressure, leading them to explore a new path for solid-state cooling.
How Does the New Cooling Technology Work?
Unlike traditional pumps that rely on environmentally harmful gases such as freon or strong greenhouse gases, and instead of directly compressing a solid mass of material, Pascal's technology compresses carbon dioxide gas inside cartridges containing a special porous sponge-like material proprietary to the company. When carbon dioxide gas penetrates the pores, the gas molecules collide with the pore walls, transferring energy to the material to raise its temperature, allowing a heat exchanger to expel that heat. When the process is reversed, the material absorbs energy and transfers it back to the gas molecules.
- Higher Efficiency: The new technology promises an increase in efficiency of up to 20% compared to current models.
- Environmental Safety: Solid-state systems completely avoid the leakage of gases harmful to the atmosphere.
- Operational Readiness: The company has tested the material up to 300,000 operation cycles, a durability equivalent to about one year of actual use.
What Changes Practically?
The system uses traditional and familiar mechanisms without requiring the massive pressures demanded by other solid-state cooling technologies, making its manufacturing low-cost and facilitating its widespread adoption. The company plans to deliver its first prototype early next year, followed by a more advanced batch of refrigerators in 2028.