Ionic Wind closes financing round worth 1.7 million francs

(CONNECT) Ionic Wind, a St.Gallen-based spin-off from the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), has closed an oversubscribed pre-seed financing round in the amount of 1.7 million Swiss francs, as detailed in a statement issued by Empa. The fresh funding will be put towards advancing product certification for Ionic Wind’s solid-state airflow technology, expanding the portfolio and taking the final steps in the direction of market launch. The financing round was led by Swiss ICT Investor Club (SICTIC), while Aare Ventures, Startfeld, CADFEM, Wartmann Futura, HAL, Valuemaker Invest and Kickfund were all also involved in the process.

The airflow modules developed by the start-up generate airflow using high-voltage electric fields. In this way, the mechanical rotation of traditional fans in electronic devices can be replaced. By eliminating mechanical movements, the airflow modules can be integrated along the edges of compact enclosures, behind dense chipsets, or embedded directly into structural elements. Without the need for additional space, Ionic Wind enables higher power densities for laptops, single-board computers and edge AI systems.

The higher density gives manufacturers a competitive advantage in the growing segment of compact high-performance electronics. This is because limited space, thermal limits and noise levels pose crucial challenges for edge AI computers, single-board computers and industrial sensor modules.

“Ionic Wind’s solid-state airflow technology marks a significant breakthrough in device cooling. This innovation opens the door to silent, reliable, and compact design possibilities, particularly in mobile devices. As a board member and investor, I am excited to support Ionic Wind in accelerating this innovation and bringing it to market”, comments Flavio Heer, SICTIC investor and founder of Zürich Instruments. ce/ja