Barocal, a Cambridge University spin-out developing solid-state cooling and heating technology using barocaloric materials, has raised a $10 million seed round from World Fund, Breakthrough Energy Discovery, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, and IP Group to accelerate development and scale its engineering team ahead of commercial deployment. The company is targeting the approximately $450 billion global HVAC market, which is expected to surge to approximately $577 billion by 2033, with initial focus on data center cooling and commercial refrigeration.
Founded in 2019 by Professor Xavier Moya, a leading expert in caloric materials at the University of Cambridge, Barocal has spent more than 15 years developing its core materials science and holds patents on a heating and cooling platform technology designed to replace century-old vapor-compression systems at cost parity while eliminating climate-damaging gas refrigerants. The company previously won the $1 million 2025 TERA-Award.
Barocal’s SolidFlow-adjacent barocaloric materials use pressure-driven phase transitions to generate large temperature changes, heating and cooling without the refrigerant gases that make conventional air conditioning and refrigeration systems major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. The heating and cooling sector is responsible for approximately 15% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions — a larger share than the aviation sector — and cooling demand alone is expected to triple by 2050. Barocaloric materials avoid these emissions while also offering efficiency advantages over vapor-compression systems, making them potentially transformative for both the climate impact and the operating economics of heating and cooling infrastructure. The seed capital will be used to scale operations and recruit senior technical and commercial talent to accelerate system development.
World Fund principal Mark Windeknecht characterized Barocal’s achievement as doing what scientists have struggled to do for decades — producing a materials breakthrough that delivers solid-state materials capable of enabling heating and cooling platform technology that competes with vapor-based incumbents. IP Group partner Lee Thornton noted the company’s potential to generate massive efficiency gains in heat transfer systems across data centers, refrigeration, and home cooling. Breakthrough Energy Discovery’s Ashley Grosh highlighted Barocal’s rigorous years-long research foundation and the organization’s continued confidence in the team as they scale.
The raise positions Barocal to move from laboratory science into early commercial demonstrations at a moment when demand for alternative cooling solutions is surging from data center operators facing rapidly escalating cooling costs and sustainability pressures.
KEY QUOTE:
“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.”
Prof. Xavier Moya, Founder, Barocal
