Exclusive: ThermalCyclones raises €1.5M from Norrsken to electrify industrial heat

London-based deep tech startup ThermalCyclones has raised €1.5m in its first funding round. Norrsken Launcher led the investment – its first-ever outside Sweden.

Anna Fredrixon, partner at Norrsken Launcher, said the firm was drawn to the combination of technical ambition and climate impact.

“This is one of the best impact bets we’ve ever seen,” she told Impact Loop. “The founders are brilliant scientific engineers, and the solution addresses a giant problem with huge returns for the planet.”

Founded in early 2024 by James Parkin and Chris Benson, ThermalCyclones aims to decarbonise high-temperature industrial heat through an electrically-powered “thermal cyclone.”

The machine, which is housed in a shipping container, extracts air from the environment and compresses it to generate heat at temperatures up to 250°C, which is then applied to water in a boiler to produce steam.

ThermalCyclones claims its system can achieve up to five times the efficiency of a traditional steam boiler, driven by a proprietary compression and heat-recuperation architecture.

Parkin, who previously worked as an engineer at fusion energy startup First Light Fusion, says the efficiency gains make it cost-competitive with traditional boilers.

“It all of a sudden becomes a simple business case for businesses instead of requiring green incentives,” said Parkin, who previously worked as an engineer at fusion energy startup First Light Fusion.

Steam provides consistent heat for a range of industries such as pharma, textiles, food, and brewing, but today most of it is provided by fossil-fuelled industrial boilers. Consequently, industrial heating contributes an estimated 18% of global GHG emissions annually.

“The impact potential is huge,” said Benson, who transitioned from a 26-year career flying helicopters to pursuing a PhD in green energy systems at the University of Nottingham. “I realised that industrial heat accounts for about 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and no one had a scalable solution.”

The pair met at a green accelerator in Cambridge, where both were pursuing deep tech projects. “We just bonded over technology that could make a big impact,” Parkin said.

Fuelled by fresh funding, ThermalCyclones has begun expanding its team, hiring three engineers and two commercial staff, and is looking for a strong commercial lead to support its growth.

“It’s build, build, build – and pulling the team together,” Benson said. “We’re demonstrating the system next summer, which is pretty rapid for hard tech.”

The company plans to commission a one-megawatt pilot system by the middle of next year, initially installed at a local brewery in London. Later pilots are expected in textile facilities, enabling full-day industrial operation.

The startup is actively engaging early adopters in the textile and brewing industries, targeting companies that prioritise sustainability and are willing to test new technology, it said.