Accelsius Closes $65 Million Series B Funding Led by Johnson Controls; Legrand Joining Round to Scale Liquid Cooling for Gigawatt-Class AI Factories

Key Terms

direct-to-chip liquid cooling technical

A cooling method that pumps liquid directly over the surface of a computer chip (processor or graphics unit) using a fitted plate, removing heat more efficiently than air or indirect systems. Think of it like a water jacket on an engine: keeping the hottest part cooler lets the equipment run faster, longer, and in a smaller space, which can lower energy and space costs and enable higher-performance products—factors that affect operating margins, capital needs, and adoption potential for companies and data centers.

coolant distribution unit (cdu) technical

A coolant distribution unit (CDU) is a piece of equipment that supplies and circulates temperature-controlled fluid to other lab or manufacturing machines, keeping components and processes at stable, often low, temperatures. For investors, a CDU matters because it supports product quality, operational uptime and regulatory compliance—think of it like a central heating/cooling system for sensitive equipment where a failure can halt production, spoil materials or trigger costly inspections.

gpu technical

A GPU (graphics processing unit) is a specialized computer chip designed to handle many calculations at once, originally for rendering images and video but now widely used for tasks like artificial intelligence, data analysis and high-performance computing. Investors watch GPU demand and prices because strong sales often signal growth for chip makers and their customers, affect profit margins and capital spending, and can forecast wider trends in gaming, AI adoption and cloud services.

opex financial

Operating expenses (often abbreviated opex) are the day-to-day costs a company incurs to run its business, such as employee pay, rent, utilities, and routine marketing. For investors, opex matters because higher or rising operating costs reduce profits and cash available for growth or dividends, while lower or well-controlled opex can indicate better efficiency—think of it as a household’s monthly bills that determine how much is left to save or invest.

total cost of ownership financial

The total cost of ownership is the full lifetime expense of acquiring and keeping an asset or product, not just its sticker price — it includes purchase, installation, operating, maintenance, financing and disposal costs. For investors, it reveals the real economic burden or savings of a purchase so they can judge profitability, cash flow and competitive strength; like comparing cars by adding fuel, insurance and repairs, not just the sale price.

Strategic investment fuels Accelsius’ rapid growth and the deployment of proprietary high-cooling capacity reference designs, backed by Johnson Controls and Legrand to meet the intense thermal demands of the AI era.

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Accelsius, the leader in two-phase, direct-to-chip liquid cooling for AI and high-performance computing, today announced the closing of its Series B funding round, raising $65 million. The round was led by Johnson Controls (JCI), the global leader for smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, with strategic investment from Legrand, a global specialist in electrical and digital building infrastructures.

Accelsius' MR250, the company’s first row-based Coolant Distribution Unit (CDU) and the latest advancement in scaling two-phase, direct-to-chip (2P D2C) liquid cooling for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) data centers.

This investment underscores the intense demand for robust liquid cooling solutions capable of managing the extreme thermal densities of next-generation high-performance compute and AI chips.

The investment by Johnson Controls and Legrand provides Accelsius with a unique strategic advantage. Johnson Controls, which previously announced its investment in Accelsius, has deep expertise in thermal management and has pioneered several innovations for data centers, including its YORK® YVAM chiller, technology that improves total facility efficiency. Legrand brings a vast portfolio of data center infrastructure solutions, including power distribution, rack infrastructure and connectivity.

“We are witnessing the dawn of a new era in digital infrastructure, where the 'AI Factory' replaces the traditional data center. To meet the demands of this age, we must build responsibly and efficiently at a gigawatt scale,” said Josh Claman, Chief Executive Officer of Accelsius. “The investment from industrial giants like Johnson Controls and Legrand is about more than just capital; it signals strong potential and accelerating adoption of two-phase approaches that deliver high-performing AI solutions with unmatched efficiency.”

“AI-scale computing is rewriting the thermal playbook. Our investment in Accelsius aligns with Johnson Controls’ strategy and commitment to deliver advanced, high-efficiency cooling solutions that enable operators to deliver AI solutions rapidly, now and in the future,” said Austin Domenici, Vice President and General Manager, Global Data Center Solutions at Johnson Controls.

Today’s IT racks already consume up to 130 kilowatts of power. As data centers pivot from traditional air cooling, which consumes up to 40 percent of a data center’s power use, to liquid cooling to handle the massive heat generation of modern GPUs, Accelsius, as the pioneer of two-phase liquid cooling, is positioned to lead the transition with its proprietary NeuCool® technology. Its two-phase solutions use non-conductive fluids in highly efficient loops - enabling 35% OpEx savings over single-phase direct-to-chip and 8–17% total cost of ownership savings.

The Series B capital will accelerate Accelsius’ rapid expansion of its Austin production facility, speed global expansion, and support the rollout of its proprietary, two-phase liquid cooling solutions.

Accelsius, a member of NVIDIA’s Inception program, is building new thermal reference designs that allow for significantly greater cooling capacity than previously considered possible, enabling operators to deploy high-performance GPUs at density without compromising efficiency or sustainability.

This announcement follows a period of rapid momentum for Accelsius, marked by significant customer acquisition, including the recent agreement to deploy NeuCool® technology across a 300 MW campus for DarkNX in Ontario.

“The data center industry is facing a critical inflection point where thermal management is no longer just a facility concern, but a strategic imperative for IT performance,” said Brian DiBella, President and CEO of Legrand, North and Central America. “Accelsius’ two-phase, direct-to-chip technology offers a clear path to supporting the heat densities of AI workloads while improving energy efficiency. We are proud to invest in a company that is not only innovating but doing so with a focus on sustainability and operational practicality.”

About Accelsius

Founded by Innventure, Inc. (NASDAQ:INV), Accelsius empowers data center and edge operators to achieve their business, financial and sustainability goals through advanced cooling solutions. The proprietary NeuCool® platform provides best-in-class thermal efficiencies through a safe, two-phase, direct-to-chip liquid cooling system that scales from single racks to entire data centers. For more information, visit accelsius.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

About Johnson Controls

At Johnson Controls (NYSE:JCI), we transform the environments where people live, work, learn and play. As the global leader in smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, our mission is to reimagine the performance of buildings to serve people, places and the planet.

Building on a proud history of nearly 140 years of innovation, we deliver the blueprint of the future for industries such as healthcare, schools, data centers, airports, stadiums, manufacturing and beyond through OpenBlue, our comprehensive digital offering.

Today, Johnson Controls offers the world's largest portfolio of building technology and software as well as service solutions from some of the most trusted names in the industry.

Visit johnsoncontrols.com for more information and follow @Johnsoncontrols on social platforms.

About Legrand

Legrand is the global specialist in electrical and digital building infrastructures. Its comprehensive offering of solutions for residential, commercial, and datacenter markets makes it a benchmark for customers worldwide. The Group harnesses technological and societal trends with lasting impacts on buildings with the purpose of improving life by transforming the spaces where people live, work and meet with electrical, digital infrastructures and connected solutions that are simple, innovative and sustainable. Drawing on an approach that involves all teams and stakeholders, Legrand is pursuing a strategy of profitable and responsible growth driven by acquisitions and innovation, with a steady flow of new offerings that include products with enhanced value in use (energy and digital transition solutions: datacenters, digital lifestyles and energy transition offerings). Legrand reported sales of €8.6 billion in 2024. The company is listed on Euronext Paris and is a component stock of the CAC 40, CAC 40 ESG and CAC Transition Climat indexes (code ISIN FR0010307819). www.legrand.us

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Will.Kruisbrink@ANDORPR.com

Source: Accelsius