INSIGHTS / News

Albotherm, a University of Bristol spin-out company developing passive cooling technologies to reduce energy usage in agriculture and the buildings sector, is excited to announce the completion of a £370k seed funding round.

The funding will support the development of Albotherm’s Variable Shading System, a temperature responsive glass coating to reflect sunlight and reduce the energy required to cool agricultural, domestic, and commercial buildings, which is expected to account for 13% of global energy by 2050.

Albotherm’s coatings transition reversibly from clear to white at tunable temperatures to prevent excess solar gains in hot weather. This helps to regulate the temperature of surfaces and structures without the need for energy input.

Albotherm has previously taken part in SETsquared’s ICURe Programme and pitched at both GradInvest 2020 and the 2020 NextGen Invest. It was also a finalist in the 2020 University of Bristol New Enterprise Competition.

The funding round was led by Sustainable Ventures as part of their Sustainable Accelerator programme. Sustainable Ventures provides early-stage investment opportunities and support to sustainability focussed start-ups with high growth potential. Albotherm is also part of the Spin Up Science Ventures (SUSV) acceleration program which helps academic founding teams to launch businesses based on scientific discoveries.

Albotherm is proud to be a tech company led by two female founders, Molly Allington (CEO) and Sian Fussell (CTO). The pair met when they were both researchers at the University of Bristol. It was there that they discovered a shared passion for using science as a force for good.

Sian Fussell, CTO and Co-founder, said: “When I started my PhD as part of the Bristol Centre for Functional Nanomaterials, I became aware of the work being done on this fascinating new technology. I wanted to understand how we could utilise this technology’s potential to combat climate change. It is very exciting to see Albotherm gain the opportunity to bring this technology to the market.”

Molly Allington, CEO and Co-founder, said: “Two of the biggest climate challenges facing us today are securing food supply and lowering carbon emissions. Albotherm is combating these issues using our passive cooling technology to improve crop yields and cool buildings without energy input. We are particularly excited to be working with Sustainable Ventures, Spin Up Science, and our experienced angel investors whose vision for a more environmentally conscious future closely aligns with our own.”

Susannah Mcclintock, Investment Director at Sustainable Ventures, said: “We are delighted to have invested in Albotherm as we see the potential for their innovative technology to have a significant impact on emissions reductions in both the agricultural and building energy efficiency fields. We are also very pleased to have invested in Albotherm’s expert all-female team as part of our belief that diverse teams outperform and our ongoing commitment to women in cleantech to invest in and support the very best founders.”

Dr Ben Miles, CEO of Spin Up Science, said: “We’ve been excited to work with Albotherm from the beginning to help realise their start-up journey and support them through this funding round. Particularly as, out of all VC investments, only 1% go to all-female founding teams. This is a really important success. The team’s ambition and vision for a sustainable energy future really impressed us and we look forward to seeing this technology make an impact in the fight against climate change.”