Sure Chill secures £4 million investment from The Garage Soho and Novastar Ventures

Cooling technology company Sure Chill, has announced its latest financial milestone after securing £4m investment from investor and brand builder The Garage Soho and Africa-focused capital manager, Novastar Ventures.

Cardiff-based Sure Chill initially developed its unique cooling technology to protect lifesaving, temperature-sensitive vaccines in emerging countries where access to consistent and reliable power supplies are rare.

After receiving the first contract for its cooling technology from UNICEF in Africa in 2011, Sure Chill has successfully exported to 49 countries as recognised by the recent Board of Trade award presented by MP Dr Liam Fox, Secretary of State for International Trade. 

The Sure Chill technology harnesses a unique property of water to enable continuous cooling from inconsistent power and is the only company to use this type of technology. The technology can keep on cooling refrigerators for days when the power goes out.

The latest investment – which brings Sure Chill’s total fundraising to over £10m – will be used to accelerate the development of other applications for the patented technology. Peter Saunders OBE, serial entrepreneur and investor remains the largest shareholder.

The investment will be used to catapult the company to the next level; attracting more top talent as well as expanding its operations with new offices overseas.

After proving the success of its technology through vaccine refrigeration in both on- and off-grid locations, Sure Chill has received increasing interest from some of the world’s largest brands looking to make use of its unique cooling technology in other major commercial sectors.

Sure Chill’s turnover last year was £3m and the company has ambitious plans to grow significantly. The company has already doubled its team size in the last three months and has team members in China, USA and the UAE.

Investor The Garage Soho  which focuses on building global brands  has invested £2m in Sure Chill – the first investment of this kind in its portfolio – after seeing the potential to grow the company into a global brand. It was attracted by how Sure Chill is disrupting the refrigeration market and interested in its social impact.

The Garage Soho’s co-founder, Sir John Hegarty, who’s famously known as a founding partner of Saatchi and Saatchi and the founder of Bartle Bogle Hegarty, helped to set up the company following a highly successful career in global advertising which saw him awarded a Knighthood by the Queen in 2007.  

“It’s rare to find such an innovative technology that will have such a profound impact on the well-being of the planet.”

Commenting on the investment, Sir John Hegarty, The Garage Soho said: “It’s rare to find such an innovative technology that will have such a profound impact on the well-being of the planet.”

“It’s rare to find such an innovative technology that will have such a profound impact on the well-being of the planet.”

Novastar Ventures, which also invested £2m in Sure Chill, is a Kenya-based venture capital fund manager dedicated to finding and supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs designing and executing innovative business models to profitably serve Africa’s mass markets. Novostar invests Sovereign Wealth Funds from major European Governments as well as Banks.

Commenting, Andrew Carruthers, Co-founder of Novastar said:

“We were initially attracted to Sure Chill after seeing the impact its cooling technology has already had through the safe storage of life-saving vaccinations across some of the most remote places in Africaand the plans that the company have for deploying this technology into products serving the mass consumer markets.

“We see a business that has the potential to make a huge difference to the daily lives of the vast populations in Africa and other emerging markets with no access to cooling products, as well as representing a great commercial opportunity.”

Nigel Saunders, CEO of Sure Chill, said: “Cooling is a foundation of modern society, wherever you are in the world – from keeping food and vaccines cool to even keeping our data centres functioning. Unfortunately, though, many methods available for cooling are not fit for today’s world. That’s why the technology behind Sure Chill is so unique – it stores energy naturally and enables cooling devices like refrigerators to keep on cooling when the power goes out.

“Sure Chill is fundamentally a big idea which can improve lives for billions in developing countries whilst also helping people and businesses in developed countries to time-shift energy and reduce energy costs. The tech is scalable from cool box to refrigerator to warehouse.

“We are delighted to welcome two significant investors to join our ever-growing story. Both bring a particular skill set and experience to the company which is complementary. The funds will ensure we take the business to the next phase by successfully entering new markets and making Sure Chill a global brand.

Discussing World Refrigeration Day, Saunders added: “This year we’re seeing the first ever UN-backed World Refrigeration Day which acknowledges the significant role refrigeration plays in the well-being of mankind and the impact that cooling technology can have modern life and society around the world. We’re proud to have a unique solution that can help solve so many different cooling challenges on a global scale.”


Notes to Editors

Media contact:

[email protected] 07825226438

Notes to Editors

The Sure Chill technology harnesses a unique property of water to enable continuous cooling from inconsistent power and is the only company to use this type of technology.

After first developing its technology in 2009, Sure Chill launched its first product to market in 2011. Sure Chill’s customers include UNICEF, Ministries of Health, MSF and other key partners in global health.

Sure Chill’s unprecedented potential to address global cooling challenges in both emerging and developed economies has already attracted support from two of the world’s leading foundations; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Shell Foundation.

In 2018, Sure Chill was selected to join Prime Minister Theresa May on a trade mission to Africa meeting with leading businesses, policymakers and entrepreneurs in order to build new investment, trading and export ties between the UK and emerging markets. According to the International Monetary Fund, African economies are amongst the fastest growing in the world, making it a significant trading and investment partner for the UK.

Sure Chill was one of only two Welsh companies invited by the Prime Minister on the mission representing the very best of British business in technology.

About The Garage Soho

Sir John Hegarty has been central to the global advertising scene over six decades. He was a founding partner of Saatchi and Saatchi in 1970 and TBWA in 1973. He founded Bartle Bogle Hegarty in 1982 with John Bartle and Nigel Bogle.

Sir John Hegarty  has been given the D&AD President’s Award for outstanding achievement and in 2014 was admitted to the US AAF Hall of Fame. He was awarded a Knighthood by the Queen in 2007 and was the recipient of the first Lion of St Mark award at the Cannes Festival of Creativity in 2011.

In 2014 Sir Hegarty helped set up The Garage Soho, an early stage investor company that believes in building brands, not just businesses. Together with his leading team from the global advertising agency BBH, Sir Hegarty has teamed up with Tom Teichman and his team from Spark Ventures to create a unique proposition for high growth start-ups.

The SPARK management team brings its exceptional track-record and expertise in early-stage investing and network within the digital media sectors to The Garage Soho. Previous investments include lastminute.com, ARC, mergermarket, MADE and notonthehighstreet.com.

The Garage Soho team work closely with portfolio companies on their brand strategy, creative and media partnerships from the outset and throughout their journey to exit.

About Novostar Ventures

Novostar is an Institutional Investor. In 2014, CDC made a $15 million commitment to the Novastar Ventures East Africa Fund, alongside the EIB, the Dutch Good Growth Fund and other European DFIs including Norway’s Norfund, the Netherlands’ FMO, and France’s Proparco.  Other investors include AXA, JPMorgan Chase, and Hivos-Triodos Fund. It was the first investment made by the Impact Fund.

Novastar Ventures Limited manages more than $160 million across two venture funds. It deploys distinctive assets and capabilities to support exceptional entrepreneurs creating and growing breakthrough businesses in East and West Africa

Manoj Ranaweera

Manoj has founded, failed and successfully exited from a number of technology product companies as well as support organisations since 2004. Among them, Northern Tech Awards and edocr.com were acquired by GP Bullhound and Accusoft, Inc respectively. Today, Manoj is building a trusted support network for technology companies. He is working with founding teams to help them accelerate including raising investment and M&A.

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