KKR invests in data centre liquid cooling specialist
US firm KKR is investing in CoolIT Systems through its Global Impact strategy, which is focused on identifying and investing in opportunities where financial performance and societal impact are intrinsically aligned.
Founded in 2001 in Calgary, Canada, CoolIT designs, engineers and manufactures advanced liquid cooling solutions for the world’s most demanding computing environments, including data centre and desktop markets.
The investment will support the CoolIT’s ability to scale and serve its global customers across the data centre market, including the enterprise, high-performance computing and cloud service provider segments, as well as in desktop computing.
The company’s patented Split-Flow Direct Liquid Cooling technology is designed to improve equipment reliability and lifespan, decrease operating cost, lower energy demand and carbon emissions, reduce water consumption and allow for higher server density than legacy air-cooling methods.
CoolIT boasts 'track record of product innovation'
Steve Walton, CEO of CoolIT, said the deal was proof of the company's impressive growth in recent years.
"Our business has evolved tremendously over the past few years and today we are proud to be one of the most trusted providers of liquid cooling solutions to the global data centre market," Walton added.
“KKR shares our perspective on the significant opportunity ahead for liquid cooling. Having access to KKR’s expertise, capital and resources will put us in an even better position to keep scaling, innovating and delivering for our customers.”
Kyle Matter, Managing Director and Head of KKR’s Global Impact team in North America, commented: “Increasing data and computing needs are on a collision course with sustainability considerations – the data centre industry is expected to consume 8% of the world’s energy by 2030. As a firm, we have committed more than US$17 billion to digital infrastructure since 2011 and deeply appreciate the mission critical role that it plays in enabling our economy.
“We also recognise that, as a society, we are grappling with the enormous energy usage and related environmental impacts that are only expected to accelerate with the rise of AI and other high performance applications.
“We believe that liquid cooling has a critical role to play in helping to reduce the emissions footprint of our digital economy and we are thrilled to back CoolIT, a leader in this space.”
Evan Kaufman, Director at KKR, continued: “By combining our manufacturing and decarbonisation expertise with CoolIT’s track record of product innovation, we expect to further scale its best-in-class direct liquid cooling solution to meet the anticipated demand for higher density, more energy-efficient data centres.
“Importantly, we look forward to working with Steve and the entire CoolIT management team to invest additional capital and resources into expanding its cooling solutions across new applications, customers and end markets.”