Cooltech Applications, a France-based provider of refrigeration and air conditioning technology, has raised €8m ($10m) from a consortium including two local corporations.
Since its debut, the company has been financed by industrial groups Marcel Dassault and Erasteel, an advanced materials subsidiary of Eramet Group that makes lanthane-based alloys, an essential element of the magnetic refrigeration technology used by Cooltech.
Cooltech’s other investors are venture funds Ace Management, TechFund Europe, Demeter Partners and 123Venture.
Founded in August 2003, Cooltech has developed technology based upon ideas about magnetic refrigeration and gained €20m in aid co-financed by France’s state-backed Oséo-ISI organisation.
The latest investment will help commercialise its technology focused on supermarket refrigeration, which makes up to 40% of the electricity consumed, in addition to the 15% of the total related logistic costs.
Sophie Paturle, partner at Demeter, said: “In eliminating completely the need for gas and reducing by half the electricity required for an equal performance in a classic system, the magnetic refrigeration technology certainly appears to be the only valid response to-date to face both environmental and economic challenges.”