Refrigerators today run on the same basic technology as they did more than 100 years ago. You’d think we could have come up with something better by now.
And we have, but nothing has been able to dethrone cheap, reliable vapor compression — the process that’s keeping your milk cold today. One startup hopes to change that.
Barocal has developed an entirely new way of heating and cooling using nothing but an inexpensive solid material. Early prototypes are already as effective as existing refrigerator compressors, and the technology promises to use significantly less energy. Oh, and there’s no risk of leaking climate-warming gases, something that has plagued vapor compression.
To prepare the technology for market, Barocal has raised a $10 million seed round, the startup exclusively told TechCrunch. Investors in the round included World Fund, Breakthrough Energy Discovery, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, and IP Group.
Barocal’s core technology stems from research performed by Xavier Moya, the startup’s founder. “I’ve always been very interested in technologies for heating and cooling,” he told TechCrunch. He traces it back to his youth in Spain, where he would spend hours studying in a small, hot room. “I really remember when air conditioning came to the house — it was like wow!” he recalled.
As a professor of materials physics at the University of Cambridge, he focused on refrigerants of all kinds, though he became particularly fascinated by solid materials that could capture and release heat simply by squeezing and stretching them. In one of his favorite demonstrations, he asks people to take a deflated balloon, hold it to their lips, and repeatedly stretch and relax it.
“If you stretch it, it gets hot. And then if you wait, when you let it go, it feels cold,” he said.
Techcrunch event San Francisco, CA | October 13-15, 2026 REGISTER NOWThat same principle applies to the class of materials Barocal has developed, which is related to an organic material widely used in a range of industries, from plastics to paints. Normally, the molecules inside the material rotate freely. But when they’re compressed, the molecules stop rotating. Since heat, at its most basic level, is the movement of atoms and molecules, reducing that movement causes the material to give off heat. Removing the pressure allows the materials to absorb heat.
Barocal uses these materials to transfer heat. In a refrigerator, for example, the material will pump heat from inside the fridge to outside, lowering the temperature for the food within. To transfer heat, the company flows water past the materials and then out to a radiator.
Because the materials are solids, gas leaks don’t pose a problem. In conventional refrigerators, the gaseous refrigerants either degrade the ozone later or warm the climate, depending on the type. Greenhouse gas-based refrigerants have become a particular concern since they can warm the climate over 1,000 times more than an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide.
Though Barocal’s technology can work at any scale, the company is studying large HVAC and refrigerators first, systems where the startup’s efficiency gains will make a noticeable dent in a customer’s bottom line. “We are looking at bigger commercial systems where I think we can make a bigger impact faster,” Moya said.
Topics
Barocal, Breakthrough Energy, Climate, ExclusiveWhen you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.
Tim De Chant
Senior Reporter, Climate
Tim De Chant is a senior climate reporter at TechCrunch. He has written for a wide range of publications, including Wired magazine, the Chicago Tribune, Ars Technica, The Wire China, and NOVA Next, where he was founding editor.
De Chant is also a lecturer in MIT’s Graduate Program in Science Writing, and he was awarded a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT in 2018, during which time he studied climate technologies and explored new business models for journalism. He received his PhD in environmental science, policy, and management from the University of California, Berkeley, and his BA degree in environmental studies, English, and biology from St. Olaf College.
You can contact or verify outreach from Tim by emailing tim.dechant@techcrunch.com.
View Bio
StrictlyVC Athens is up next. Hear unfiltered insights straight from Europe’s tech leaders and connect with the people shaping what’s ahead. Lock in your spot before it’s gone.
-
This tiny, magnetic e-reader could stop you from doomscrolling
- Amanda Silberling
-
Uber wants to turn its millions of drivers into a sensor grid for self-driving companies
- Connie Loizos
-
Y Combinator alum Skio sells for $105M cash, only raised $8M, founder says
- Julie Bort
-
Hackers are actively exploiting a bug in cPanel, used by millions of websites
- Zack Whittaker
-
Elon Musk testifies that xAI trained Grok on OpenAI models
- Tim Fernholz
-
Amazon, Meta join fight to end Google Pay, PhonePe dominance in India
- Jagmeet Singh
-
On the stand, Elon Musk can’t escape his own tweets
- Tim Fernholz