Barocal

Barocal is pioneering a new generation of heating and cooling technology that could eliminate harmful refrigerants and dramatically reduce one of the world’s largest sources of carbon emissions.

For more than a century, conventional heating and cooling systems have relied on combustion boilers and vapour-compression technologies that use harmful refrigerant gases. Fugitive refrigerant leaks and energy inefficiencies mean the sector now accounts for a substantial share of global greenhouse gas emissions. With cooling demand alone expected to triple by 2050 developing low-carbon alternatives has never been more critical to achieving net-zero targets.

Barocal has developed a solid-state heating and cooling technology that uses pressure to trigger temperature changes in organic materials. When compressed, the materials release heat; when pressure is removed, they absorb heat. Unlike conventional refrigerants, these materials have zero global warming potential and are designed to be safe, recyclable, durable and low cost. The technology has potential applications across buildings, industrial processes, commercial refrigeration and data-centre cooling.

Founded in 2019 by Professor Xavier Moya, Barocal is a University of Cambridge spinout built on more than 15 years of research in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy. The company has been supported by organisations including Deeptech Labs Accelerator and Cambridge Cleantech.

Barocal has secured more than $16 million in grant, equity and prize funding, including a $10 million seed round in 2026 backed by Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, Breakthrough Energy, World Fund and IP Group, alongside the $1 million TERA-Award Gold Prize in 2025.

The funding is supporting team growth, product development and commercialisation. With an initial focus on data-centre cooling and other high-growth markets, Barocal is advancing the deployment of a new generation of low-emission heating and cooling systems.