Toyota AI Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of carmaker Toyota, has backed an initial $15m series A close for US-based thermo-storage material developer Carbice Corporation.
The tranche was led by venture capital firm Downing Ventures and follows a $1.5m seed round co-led by incubator TechSquare Labs and public-private VC fund GRA Venture Fund in 2017.
Founded in 2017 as a Georgia Tech spinout, Carbice has created an aluminium and carbon material for regulating heat within electronic devices, reducing the risk of overheating. Its scientific founder is Bara Cola, a professor in Georgia Tech’s Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.
The funding will help Carbice attract sales and marketing talent and scale production to cope with anticipated demand for its technology.
Jim Adler, founding managing director of Toyota AI Ventures, said: “Thermal management is a critical electronics issue that has seen little disruptive innovation.
“Carbice Carbon’s heat-conducting technology is a game-changer for applications in multiple industries. Bara is a proven leader with the ideal combination of vision, strategy, operations and technical expertise to realise Carbice’s potential.”