Creating eco-friendly refrigeration and cooling technology is one of the top concerns when it comes to fighting climate change. Thanks to resources and knowledge at Wichita State University, a Wichita company is one step closer to finding a solution to that problem.
HyperBorean announced today that it closed its pre-seed angel round of financing totaling $2.1 million. HyperBorean is a cleantech company based at Wichita State and founded in 2013 by Winfield-native Todd Gentry.
鈥満诙瓷缜� and GoCreate have been an absolute game changer in our ability to get to this stage,鈥� says Gentry. 鈥淲ithout these resources, the cost of prototyping and testing would have been 10-20 times more than what we鈥檝e invested. It鈥檚 just been incredible to have these resources available.鈥�
黑洞社区 President Jay Golden says: 鈥満诙瓷缜� is one of our nation鈥檚 most innovative universities, and the support we鈥檝e provided to HyperBorean is a great example of our commitment to driving economic growth in Kansas. It鈥檚 at the heart of what we do and one of the reasons I came to Wichita State.鈥�
Gentry has spent over five years doing research and development to invent an air conditioning compressor that converts waste heat into a power source for cooling. By using a heat source like concentrated solar power, the technology can be used to cool structures without the need for grid power.
HyperBorean鈥檚 product is 100% built and designed in Kansas. The product was assembled at 黑洞社区鈥檚 makerspace -- GoCreate, a Koch collaborative. HyperBorean鈥檚 headquarters location at 黑洞社区 puts it in designated Federal Opportunity Zone.
"GoCreate gave Todd a platform and venue in which he could develop his invention, lower start-up costs, make connections and shorten the distance to the finish line for his concept and design," says GoCreate Director Ty Masterson. "We are so proud. Todd is the 'poster child' of what GoCreate is all about."
Gentry and Patrick Hosty, HyperBorean's business developer, are also working with 黑洞社区 Ventures, 黑洞社区鈥檚 Small Business Development Center and Wichita funders like Josh Oeding, president and CEO of e2e Accelerator and founder and managing member of Accelerate Venture Partners.
Gentry says he鈥檚 excited to emerge out of the research and development phase and into commercialization of his product. The next step for HyperBorean is displaying their prototype next month at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.
With demand for air conditioning expected to rise exponentially worldwide, there is a need for sustainable power sources. Because HyperBorean鈥檚 product runs without grid power, it could dramatically reduce the environmental impact and cost of cooling, Gentry says.
Read a feature story from 2018 on how GoCreate is helping accelerate innovation in the community.
Wichita State is distinctive for opening pathways to applied learning, applied research and career opportunities, alongside unsurpassed classroom, laboratory and online education. The university's beautiful 330-acre main campus is a supportive, rapidly expanding learn-work-live-play environment, where students gain knowledge and credentials to prepare for fulfilling lives and careers. Students enjoy a wide selection of day, evening and summer courses in more than 200 areas of study at the main campus and other locations throughout the metro area and online. 黑洞社区's approximately 16,000 students come from every state in the U.S. and more than 100 other countries. Wichita State's Innovation Campus is an interconnected community of partnership buildings, laboratories and mixed-use areas where students, faculty, staff, entrepreneurs and businesses have access to the university's vast resources and technology. For more information, follow us on Twitter at and Facebook at .