- UK-based Iceotope’s environmentally efficient technology reduces the energy and water required to cool data centre servers and contributes to the achievement of net-zero emissions for the data centre industry;
- Singapore-based ABC Impact’s investment further drives the potential for this technology to be deployed in new and existing data centres in Singapore and across Southeast Asia;
- This is ABC Impact’s first investment in the UK as the impact investing firm continues to seek innovative solutions that can help address the challenges of climate change in the region.
Singapore, 7 July 2022 – Singapore impact investing firm ABC Impact today announced its investment in Iceotope Technologies Limited (“Iceotope”), the global leader in precision immersion cooling technology based in the United Kingdom (“UK”). The Singapore impact investor leads a USD36M global syndicate in its first investment in the UK as it continues to seek innovative solutions that can help address the climate challenges in Asia.
Tan Shao Ming, Chief Investment Officer at ABC Impact said: “We have a strong investment focus on climate and water solutions. With data centres in Asia set to proliferate on the back of increasing IoT use and the rollout of 5G networks, the precision immersion cooling solutions developed by Iceotope will enable data centres to transit to a more sustainable infrastructure with reduced environmental and real estate footprint. We see vast potential to deploy this technology in Asia, especially in regions with tropical climates, and we look forward to working with Iceotope to scale its positive impact and address the growing climate change challenges we face.”
David Craig, CEO of Iceotope Technologies said: “This significant investment, one of the largest amounts recently invested in liquid cooling, is a testament to the great work of our designers for our customers across the globe, as well as the many technology and channel partners that have placed their trust in our ability to cool data centre servers more efficiently in a vertical rack form factor. Given the global importance of the data centre sector, which can only increase as edge facilities proliferate and extend to the far reaches of civilization, we look forward to accelerating our global deployment plan with the help of our new and existing investment partners.”
Earlier this year, the Singapore government lifted a data centre moratorium that has been in place since 2019 to pave the way for new data centre projects that must comply with new sustainable conditions. These new conditions include maintaining energy efficiency with a power usage effectiveness (PUE)[1] of 1.3 and below. Deploying Iceotope’s patented liquid cooling technology in place of traditional air-cooling measures offers up to 96% reduction in water use, up to 40% reduction in power consumption, and up to 40% carbon emissions reduction per kW of ITE[2]. With carbon taxes set to increase from 2024 in Singapore, energy-efficient cooling technologies such as Iceotope’s precision immersion solution will also help data centre owners and end users save additional costs.
In April 2022, ST Telemedia Global Data Centres, one of the fastest growing global data centre operators headquartered in Singapore, partnered Iceotope and Schneider Electric to jointly conduct a proof-of-concept (“POC”) in Singapore[3]. The POC project aims to future-proof next-generation data centre builds and reduce both power and water consumption.
This is ABC Impact’s first investment in the UK since its inception in 2019. The impact investor has a growing portfolio of innovative companies working to address pressing challenges in Asia such as better healthcare and education, climate and water solutions, sustainable food and agriculture, as well as financial and digital inclusion. With an investment strategy anchored on UN Sustainable Development Goals, ABC Impact actively engages with companies that have the potential to generate positive impact on societies and the environment in Asia.
Joining ABC Impact in the investment syndicate are leading global electrical solutions provider nVent, Northern Gritstone, British Patient Capital, FTSE 250 investment company SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust, Pavilion Capital, and existing investor Edinv.
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[1] Power Usage Effectiveness or PUE refers to the amount of power consumed by a data centre, divided by the amount of power used to operate the IT equipment in the data centre; a lower value represents higher efficiency.
[2] Independently verified by Cundall: Desktop Study Report – Liquid and Air-Cooling Compared
[3] https://www.iceotope.com/company/news-events/st-telemedia-global-data-centres-partners-with-iceotope-and-schneider-electric-to-deliver-an-innovative-sustainable-liquid-cooling-proof-of-concept/