Founderful
Assembly Line
Apheros secures $1.85M to cool down data centers, using high performance cooling systems
Data centers are the backbone of the digital age, with unprecedented demand for digital infrastructure driven by the surge in the use of AI, machine learning, and supercomputing. However, their energy consumption is skyrocketing. By 2030, an estimated six percent of global energy consumption will be used specifically for cooling data centers. A shift from traditional cooling methods to more cost- and energy efficient liquid-based solutions is inevitable. Enabling this transition, deep tech startup Apheros is announcing a $1.85m funding round seizing this critical moment to introduce its innovative metal foam technology, offering a superior solution to this pressing industry challenge.
The pre-seed funding round, led by venture capital firm Founderful, will accelerate development and deployment of Apheros’ revolutionary metal foam-based cooling solutions.
The Apheros patented manufacturing process creates unique foam structures with completely open porosity and unparalleled surface area, surpassing traditional solutions by a factor of thousand, which translates into exceptional heat transfer and flow properties. Ideal for high performance cooling applications, Apheros’ metal foams are easily integrated within its customers’ existing cooling systems. They address customers’ urgent needs of reduced energy consumption and cooling costs.
AI robotic arm to tackle labour shortages: Swiss startup mimic grabs $2.5M funding
In the race to develop the first commercially available humanoid robot primarily concentrated in the US, mimic has closed a pre-seed round of $2.5 million. The round was led by early-stage Swiss investor Founderful, which invested in Isospec Analytics, together with participation from German-based fund another.vc, UK-based Tiny.vc, which invested in UltiHash, and a lineup of angel investors.
Spinning out from the research university ETH Zurich, mimic was founded by researchers Elvis Nava, Stefan Weirich, Stephan-Daniel Gravert, and Benedek Forrai in 2024. The founding team was working at the intersection of robotics and AI under Professor Robert Katzschmann’s Soft Robotic Labs when they became increasingly convinced that the latest developments in large-scale generative AI models would upend a multitude of industries, beyond just language and image generation.
As per the company, its solution will enable a robot with humanoid hands to understand and imitate any behaviour, simply by watching a human perform it. This deviates from the conventional robotic solutions and focuses on specific use cases. Since each use case requires expensive ad-hoc engineering and comprehensive pre-programmed movements, robots are only able to complete the narrowly specific task they are designed for. Most use cases are stationary and do not require a full humanoid robot with legs, so they have developed a robotic arm.