Frigid.Cloud planning capital raise for US expansion

A smart refrigeration platform that provides beverage producers with real-time chilling information is planning a $5m capital raise after signing up its first US customers.

Frigid.Cloud chief executive Jassa Amir Lang with Bowden Brewing co-founder Alex Marschall. Picture: Supplied by Frigid.Cloud

Technology start-up Frigid.­Cloud is planning a multimillion-dollar capital raising in a bid to ramp up its international expansion after signing up its first customers in the lucrative US market.

The smart refrigeration platform, which uses Internet of Things and cloud-computing technologies to provide craft brewers and other beverage producers with real-time information and the ability to control chilling processes remotely, has installed its technology at Californian breweries Ambitious Ales in Long Beach and Pure Project in San Diego.

Chief executive Jassa Amir-Lang said the company was looking to raise $2m-$5m in a seed round next year after receiving positive feedback during its initial foray into the US, and with opportunities emerging in the European market.

“With great traction in the domestic market, it became an obvious choice to take the platform to further afield markets such as the US,” he said.

“So far it has received the same overwhelmingly positive feedback from US breweries with nothing available in the market that performs the same functions as Frigid.Cloud.

“We will continue to grow Australian operations and also have people based in California to grow this market in parallel.”

Mr Amir-Lang said the company was in the final stages of negotiating another US customer agreement with a large winery in Escondido, north of San Diego, and would soon begin recruiting an on-the-ground team in San Diego to support its US expansion plans.

It follows the company’s participation in Austrade’s US export acceleration program, known as the San Francisco Landing Pad, which supports Australian technology firms looking to scale in the North American market.

Mr Amir-Lang and co-founders Mark Gerschwitz, Patrick Anderson and Tim Cosh launched Frigid.Cloud in 2022 following a pilot program with Stepney-based Little Bang ­Brewery.

Its platform has been designed to enable craft brewers, wineries and spirit producers to optimise their energy use by providing access to the type of detailed information that had previously been available to only the large multinational beverage companies.

The company is closing in on 40 craft brewery and winery customers across Australia.

Later this month the company will also launch its own new sustainable beer in partnership with Bowden Brewing, using South Australian ingredients including local hops and malted grains to minimise carbon miles.