Refrigeration company, Sure Chill, will invest a further £4m in its cooling technology
Cardiff-based refrigeration company Sure Chill, has announced a further £4m investment in its cooling technology that does not require a constant electricity supply.
The latest investment comes from investor and brand builder The Garage Soho and Africa-focused capital manager, Novastar Ventures.
The Sure Chill cooling technology offers a means of protecting lifesaving, temperature-sensitive vaccines in emerging countries where access to consistent and reliable power supplies are rare.
After receiving the first contract for its cooling technology from UNICEF in Africa in 2011, Sure Chill has successfully exported to 49 countries.
The Sure Chill technology harnesses a unique property of water to enable continuous cooling from inconsistent power and is the only company to use this type of technology. The technology can keep on cooling refrigerators for days when the power goes out.
The latest investment – which brings Sure Chill’s total fundraising to over £10m – will be used to accelerate the development of other applications for the patented technology. Peter Saunders OBE, serial entrepreneur and investor remains the largest shareholder.
Sure Chill says the investment will take the company to the next level, attracting more top talent as well as expanding its operations with new offices overseas.
After proving the success of its technology through vaccine refrigeration in both on- and off-grid locations, Sure Chill is said to have received increasing interest from some of the world’s largest brands looking to make use of its unique cooling technology in other major commercial sectors.
Sure Chill’s turnover last year was £3m and the company has ambitious plans to grow significantly. The company has already doubled its team size in the last three months and has team members in China, USA and the UAE.
Investor The Garage Soho which focuses on building global brands has invested £2m in Sure Chill – the first investment of this kind in its portfolio – after seeing the potential to grow the company into a global brand.
The Garage Soho’s co-founder, Sir John Hegarty, said of Sure Chill that it’s rare to find such an innovative technology that will have such a profound impact on the well-being of the planet.
Novastar Ventures, which also invested £2m in Sure Chill, is a Kenya-based venture capital fund manager dedicated to finding and supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs designing and executing innovative business models to profitably serve Africa’s mass markets.
Nigel Saunders, CEO of Sure Chill, said that cooling is a foundation of modern society, wherever one is in the world – from keeping food and vaccines cool to even keeping data centres functioning. Unfortunately, though, many methods available for cooling are not fit for today’s world. That’s why the technology behind Sure Chill is so unique – it stores energy naturally and enables cooling devices like refrigerators to keep on cooling when the power goes out.
Sure Chill is fundamentally a big idea which can improve lives for billions in developing countries whilst also helping people and businesses in developed countries to time-shift energy and reduce energy costs. The tech is scalable from cool box to refrigerator to warehouse.
