Nelumbo resurfaces with series A extension

Nelumbo, a US-based heat exchange technology spinout of University of California (UC) Berkeley, increased its series A round to $19.5m today following an extension co-led by University of Tokyo Edge Capital (Utec), the institution’s venture capital unit.
Prime Mover’s Lab co-led the $14m expansion, which also featured Berkeley Catalyst Fund, a vehicle that invests on behalf of UC Berkeley’s College of Chemistry, and industrial products group Danfoss.
Safar Partners, Darwin Venture Management, Neue Fund and Photon Fund filled out the round.
The initial $5.5m tranche led by Berkeley Catalyst Fund took place in 2018 with participation from Danfoss, renewable energy producer UPC Renewables, Photon Fund and 1517 Fund.
Founded in 2015, Nelumbo has developed a surface treatment that can be applied to heat exchangers within heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) units to improve performance and resistance against corrosion.
Its offering includes products for freezer defrosting units and air conditioner coils. The additional series A proceeds will go to expanding existing and new product lines and improving its core surface treatment technology.
Keisuke Ide, partner at Utec, has joined Nelumbo’s board of directors, as have Dakin Sloss, founder and general partner of Prime Mover’s Lab, and David Walther, co-founder and senior vice-president of engineering of Nelumbo.
Walther, a former research engineer at the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center, co-founded Nelumbo with chief executive Liam Berryman, previously a researcher in UC Berkeley’s nanomanufacturing lab, and Lance Brockway, former vice-chairman of external partnerships at Berkeley Postdoctoral Entrepreneur Program.
The spinout’s founding project emerged through SinBerBest, a Singapore-based interdisciplinary research program managed by UC Berkeley that collaborates with Nanyang Technology University and National University of Singapore.