Apheros Pitch Deck: All 10 Slides + Teardown

Apheros, a Swiss hardware startup, uses a concise 10-slide deck to pitch its patented metal foam technology designed for high-performance cooling. The deck focuses heavily on the technical superiority of its material—boasting a 100x to 1000x surface area increase over industry standards—and the massive energy crisis facing data centers. By positioning liquid cooling as a market growing at a 24.4% CAGR, Apheros creates a compelling case for its role in the future of AI and high-performance computing. While the deck lacks a specific financial 'Ask' slide or detailed unit economics, it successfu…

Key takeaways

• The deck identifies a massive macro problem: data center cooling is projected to consume 6% of global energy by 2030 (Slide 2).
• Apheros positions its technology within the liquid cooling segment, which is growing at a 24.4% CAGR (Slide 3).
• The core value proposition is a patented metal foam that offers 1000x higher surface area and is 100% open-cell (Slide 4).
• A direct technical comparison claims a 100x to 1000x surface area increase over the 'Industry Standard' (Slide 5).
• The company targets a $35 million revenue goal by 2029 within a projected $20.4 billion total cooling market (Slide 6).
• A detailed competitive matrix places Apheros in a 'sweet spot' of high efficiency and mid-range pricing ($50 - $500) compared to 3D printed options costing over $5000 (Slide 7).
• The roadmap extends beyond data centers into hydrogen production ($3.8B market) and battery electrodes ($57.8B market) by 2029 (Slide 8).
• The team slide emphasizes deep technical expertise, featuring a CEO who is the inventor of the patented technology and a CTO with a PhD in Chemistry (Slide 9).

Frequently asked questions

What is the primary technology Apheros is pitching?

Apheros is pitching a patented metal foam manufacturing process. These foams are designed for high-performance cooling, specifically for data centers and AI hardware. The material is '100% open,' allowing for excellent liquid and gas transport, and provides a surface area increase of 100x to 1000x compared to standard cooling solutions, which significantly improves heat transfer efficiency.

How does Apheros compare to existing cooling competitors?

On slide 7, Apheros compares itself to five other technologies. It claims superior cooling efficiency, wetting, and thermal interface compared to tube heat exchangers and microfluidic channels. Crucially, it positions itself as a cost-effective alternative to 3D printed foams (which cost >$5000) by offering a price range of $50 to $500 while maintaining similar or better performance metrics.

What markets is Apheros targeting beyond data centers?

While data center liquid cooling is the immediate focus, slide 8 outlines a multi-vertical strategy. This includes grease reservoirs (2025), hydrogen (H2) production (2027), and battery electrodes (2029). The latter is the largest projected market at $57.8 billion. The company argues that its high-surface-area foams are applicable anywhere that requires extreme heat exchange or high-purity material transport.

Is there a clear financial 'Ask' in the deck?

No. The provided 10-slide deck does not include a slide detailing how much capital the company is seeking, the valuation, or the specific milestones they intend to reach with the funding. While publisher reports indicate they raised $1.9M, the deck itself focuses entirely on the problem, technology, market, and team.

What is the significance of the ETH Zürich branding?

Apheros is a spin-off from ETH Zürich, one of the world's leading technical universities. This branding, featured prominently on the title slide and team slide, provides immediate institutional credibility. For a hardware and material science startup, this academic pedigree serves as a 'trust signal' for investors regarding the validity of the underlying patents and technical claims.

Apheros pitch deck: the facts

Company

Apheros

Year

2024

Stage

Pre-seed

Slides

10

Sector

Hardware / Material Science

Deck type

Investor Pitch Deck

Outcome

$1.9M Raised

Headquarters

Zürich, Switzerland

Apheros pitch deck PDF

The full Apheros deck is embedded on this page and can be read slide by slide in the browser — no download or account required. Each slide is covered in the breakdown above.

What the Apheros pitch deck was used for

This is Apheros’s **2024 pre‑seed pitch deck** used to raise roughly **$1.85–1.9M** for its metal‑foam cooling technology for data centers and high‑performance computing.[1][4][5][6] The ETH Zürich spin‑off, founded in 2023 by Julia Carpenter and Gaëlle Andreatta, develops patented metal foams that significantly improve heat transfer for chips and servers.[13][14][15] The deck positions air cooling as the current bottleneck and argues that liquid cooling, enabled by Apheros’s metal foams, is up to 1,000x more efficient and uses over 80% less energy for next‑generation chips.[source OCR] The round was structured as a pre‑seed financing to scale production and move from lab‑scale prototypes toward commercial deployment in data centers.[1][3][4][5][6]

Business model: Apheros develops and commercializes **metal foam–based thermal management solutions** to improve cooling efficiency in high‑performance computing and data centers, enabling lower energy use and more sustainable infrastructure.[1][3][4][11]

Round

Pre‑seed[1][3][4][9]

Lead investor

Founderful[1][3][4][5][9]

Investors

Founderful (lead)

Founded

2023[13][14][15]

Founders

Julia Carpenter, Gaëlle Andreatta[14][15]

Headquarters

Zurich, Switzerland[5][7][11]

Year: 2024[1][3][4][5][7][9]

Raising: Pre‑seed capital to accelerate development, scale production, and move toward commercial deployment of metal‑foam cooling solutions for data centers.[1][3][4][5]

Raised: $1.85M (≈CHF 1.6M / €1.65M) pre‑seed funding round in August 2024.[1][3][4][5][7][9]

Industry: Thermal management / Hardware / Deep-tech material science for data centers[1][3][4][5][7][11]

Total funding: Pre‑seed equity round of $1.85M (~CHF 1.6M / €1.65M) plus at least CHF 150k from Venture Kick and CHF 1.1M Innosuisse grant, for ≥CHF 2.85M in disclosed non‑dilutive + pre‑seed funding to date.[1][2][5][7][9][11][13][15]

Use of funds as presented: Accelerate development and deployment of metal‑foam‑based cooling, scale manufacturing from lab to pilot‑scale production, and grow the team toward roughly 15 employees as the company prepares for commercial roll‑out.[1][2][3][4][5]

What happened after the Apheros deck

Following its 2024 pre‑seed round, Apheros has progressed from an ETH Zürich spin‑off with lab‑validated metal‑foam cooling to a funded company preparing pilot‑scale production and market entry, supported by venture capital and Swiss innovation grants.[1][2][3][4][13][14][15]

• 2023: Established as an ETH Zürich spin‑off developing patent‑pending metal‑foam heat sinks and manufacturing techniques
• 2023: Won CHF 150,000 from Venture Kick to develop cooling technology with metal foams and expand client base.[13][15]
• August 2024: Announced a $1.85M (≈CHF 1.6M / €1.65M) pre‑seed funding round led by Founderful to accelerate development
• By early 2025: Secured a CHF 1.1M Innosuisse grant to implement pilot‑scale production and accelerate market entry for m

What the Apheros deck got right

• Clear articulation of a mission‑critical bottleneck. The deck concisely frames **cooling as the bottleneck of high‑performance computing**, immediately tying Apheros’s technology to a critical constraint for data centers and next‑generation chips rather than abstract material‑science capabilities.[source OCR][3]
• Compelling and simple efficiency narrative. By contrasting “Energy intensive and inefficient” air cooling with liquid cooling that is “<1000x more efficient” and “>80% less energy,” the slide makes the value proposition intuitively legible even to non‑specialists, while emphasizing orders‑of‑magnitude improvement.[source OCR][3]
• Strong technical credibility and external validation. The deck leverages Apheros’s identity as an **ETH Zürich spin‑off** with patent‑pending metal foams, reinforced by wins like Venture Kick and Innosuisse grants, which together offer strong third‑party validation for investors evaluating a complex deep‑tech technology.[2][13][14][15]
• Alignment with fast‑growing liquid‑cooling market. Positioning liquid cooling as the “fastest growing cooling market segment (CAGR 24.4%)” anchors Apheros’s solution within a **fast‑expanding market trend**, signaling that the startup is riding a structural shift rather than creating a niche market from scratch.[source OCR][3][7]
• High information density in a concise deck. The deck is deliberately **lean (10 slides)** yet manages to explain the macro problem (data‑center energy use), specific pain point (chip cooling), and how Apheros’s metal foams unlock better liquid‑cooling systems, demonstrating that complex deep‑tech stories can be communicated succinctly.[4][source OCR]
• Coherent bridge from R&D to commercialization. The fundraise positioning—pre‑seed capital to scale production and move toward commercial deployment—shows a clear line of sight from technology development to industrialization, giving investors confidence that there is a concrete path to market.[1][3][4][5]

What could have been stronger

• Efficiency and energy‑saving claims lack experimental context. The slide frames liquid cooling as “<1000x more efficient” and “>80% less energy” than standard air cooling, but does not indicate whether these metrics are theoretical maxima, lab results, or performance in realistic data‑center deployments, nor does it expose test conditions or baselines, which can trigger investor questions on robustness of the claims.[source OCR][3]
• Market growth and bottleneck framing are under‑referenced. The slide asserts that air cooling is “not sufficient for next‑gen chips” and that liquid cooling is the “fastest growing cooling market segment (CAGR 24.4%),” but offers no citations, market segmentation detail, or specific data‑center verticals, making the market sizing and growth rate hard to assess from the deck alone.[source OCR][3][7]
• Limited visible commercial traction in the pre‑seed narrative. From the available description, the deck emphasizes technology and macro energy‑consumption problems, but public coverage does not mention customer pilots, signed LOIs, or revenue figures in connection with this round, leaving traction and go‑to‑market validation relatively thin in the narrative investors see.[1][3][4][5][13]
• Intellectual property and competitive landscape not surfaced on core problem/solution slide. Apheros’s technology relies on a novel, patent‑pending manufacturing route for metal foams, yet the deck slide shown does not touch IP status, freedom‑to‑operate, or competing cooling materials, which are central to deep‑tech risk assessment.[source OCR][15]

How an investor would read this deck

What draws attention

• Claims that liquid cooling is **up to 1,000x more efficient** and uses **>80% less energy** than air cooling for next‑gen chips are attention‑grabbing and differentiate Apheros from conventional cooling solutions.[source OCR][3]
• The narrative that data centers could account for **~6% of global energy consumption by 2030**, and that Apheros can reduce their energy use by around **20%**, positions the startup as a potential enabler of large‑scale sustainability impact.[3][8][14]
• Being an **ETH Zürich spin‑off** with patent‑pending metal foams and having already won **Venture Kick** and **Innosuisse** support provides strong technical credibility and de‑risking signals for early‑stage investors.[2][13][15]
• A female‑led founding team (CEO Julia Carpenter and CTO Gaëlle Andreatta) in a capital‑intensive deep‑tech segment may appeal to investors looking to back diverse teams in frontier hardware/energy‑efficiency plays.[8][14][15]
• The deck’s focus on a lean set of 10 slides that clearly link the bottleneck (chip cooling) to an enabling material (metal foams) helps investors quickly understand the value proposition despite the material‑science complexity.[4][source OCR]

Risks that stand out

• Scaling a novel metal‑foam manufacturing process from lab to mass production can entail significant technical and operational risk, including yield, consistency of thermal properties, and cost control.[2][13][15]
• Even if Apheros’s cooling is more efficient, data‑center adoption often depends on integration with existing racks, servers, and facility infrastructure, which can slow commercialization and require partnerships with OEMs or system integrators.[3][7]
• The market for advanced cooling is competitive, with multiple approaches (direct‑to‑chip liquid cooling, immersion, phase‑change materials), so Apheros must demonstrate clear differentiation and avoid being displaced by more mature solutions.[3][7]
• Energy‑efficiency claims and projected 20% reductions in data‑center consumption will be scrutinized; if real‑world gains fall short of headline numbers, customer and investor confidence could be affected.[3][8][14]
• Deep‑tech hardware typically requires substantial follow‑on capital for manufacturing scale‑up and validation, so Apheros may face fundraising risk if macro conditions or climate‑tech capital availability worsens before meaningful revenue is achieved.[1][3][5][7]

Questions this deck invites

• What empirical data (lab tests, pilot deployments, independent evaluations) underpins the “<1000x more efficient” and “>80% less energy” claims versus standard air cooling, and under what workloads and ambient conditions were these measured
• How does Apheros’s metal‑foam liquid cooling compare on total cost of ownership (CAPEX, OPEX, maintenance) to state‑of‑the‑art cold plates, immersion cooling, and other advanced data‑center cooling solutions?[3][7]
• What is the current status of patents and IP protection for the metal‑foam manufacturing route and heat‑sink designs, and are there any known risks around freedom‑to‑operate or overlapping claims from other foam or thermal‑management player
• Which specific data‑center or HPC customers are engaged today (PoCs, pilots, paid trials), and what timelines and volumes are expected for first commercial deployments following this pre‑seed round?[1][3][5][7]
• What scaling plan and unit‑economics assumptions underpin moving from lab‑scale to pilot‑scale production of metal foams, including yields, quality control, and supply‑chain dependencies (e.g., copper sourcing)?[2][13][15]

What founders can take from the Apheros deck

• A lean, **10‑slide deck** can still successfully close a deep‑tech pre‑seed round if it clearly links a large, well‑understood macro problem (data‑center energy use) with a specific, differentiated enabling technology (metal foams) and quantifies the potential impact.[1][3][4]
• Framing the **cooling bottleneck in high‑performance computing** as both a performance and an energy problem helps move Apheros’s narrative beyond component specs into system‑level value and cost savings that investors and customers care about.[source OCR][3]
• Featuring **specific, bold performance claims** (e.g., 1000x efficiency, >80% less energy) can grab investor attention, but they must be backed by defensible data; otherwise they become the focal point of diligence and skepticism.[source OCR][3]
• Being explicit about the company’s origin as an **ETH Zürich spin‑off** and referencing wins like Venture Kick and Innosuisse grants can help de‑risk technical credibility and show that external experts have already vetted the science.[2][13][14][15]
• Highlighting that the fundraise is directed toward **scaling production and moving from R&D to deployment** clarifies use of funds and makes the pre‑seed round feel like a necessary step in a coherent industrialization roadmap.[1][3][4][5]
• Media coverage and inclusion in pitch‑deck libraries demonstrate that a well‑communicated deep‑tech story can resonate beyond specialist audiences, suggesting that founders should invest in narrative clarity for complex technologies.[4][6][11]

Apheros pitch deck: common questions

What does Apheros do?

Apheros is a Swiss deep‑tech startup and ETH Zürich spin‑off developing **patent‑pending metal foam heat sinks and cooling systems** for high‑performance computing and data centers.[13][14][15] Its foams improve wicking and bubble transport, have high thermal conductivity, and are manufactured via a low‑waste, scalable process.[15]

How much did Apheros raise in its pre‑seed round and what is the funding used for?

In August 2024, Apheros announced a **$1.85M (≈CHF 1.6M / €1.65M) pre‑seed funding round** to accelerate development and deployment of its metal‑foam‑based cooling solutions.[1][3][4][5][7][9] The capital is used to move toward commercial production, scale manufacturing, and support hiring as the company transitions from R&D to pilot‑scale deployments.[1][3][4][5]

Who invested in Apheros, and are there any grants or public funding involved?

The **pre‑seed round was led by Founderful**, a Swiss pre‑seed venture capital fund.[1][3][4][5][9] Apheros has also previously secured **CHF 150,000 from Venture Kick** and a **CHF 1.1M grant from Innosuisse**, the Swiss Innovation Agency, to support pilot‑scale production and market entry.[2][13][15]

What is in Apheros’s 2024 pitch deck and what round was it for?

Apheros’s pitch deck, featured by Business Insider, is a **10‑slide pre‑seed deck from 2024** that explains how conventional air cooling is energy‑intensive and inadequate for next‑gen chips, and positions liquid cooling with metal foams as far more efficient.[4][source OCR] The deck was used to secure the $1.85M pre‑seed round and focuses on the market need, technology differentiation, and data‑center energy savings rather than detailed financial projections.[1][3][4][5][6]

How much energy and efficiency improvement does Apheros claim for its cooling technology?

According to company and media reports, Apheros’s metal foam cooling can improve cooling efficiency by up to **90%** and cut data‑center energy use by around **20%**, by enabling more effective liquid‑cooling systems for chips and servers.[3][8][14] The deck itself highlights that liquid cooling is **up to 1,000x more efficient** and uses **over 80% less energy** than standard air‑cooling approaches for high‑performance computing.[source OCR]

Sources

Funding and outcome facts on this page were researched on 2026-08-30 from the pages below.

• Apheros pre-seed founding round press release
• Innosuisse Grant
• How Apheros Plans To Take The Heat Out Of The World's Data ...
• Apheros helps data centers cool down. Check out the pitch deck it used to secure $1.85 million.
• Apheros Raises CHF1.6M in Funding
• Journals – Apheros - English
• Metal Foam Cooling: Apheros Secures €1.65M for Data Centers in ...
• Apheros Revolutionizes Data Center Cooling with Metal Foam ...

Apheros pitch deck slides

What each slide of the Apheros pitch deck says

Slide 3

Cooling —the bottleneck of high-performance computing Air Cooling + Industry Standard ¢ Energy intensive and inefficient +* Not sufficient for nextgen chips apheres Liquid Cooling < 1000x more efficient < >80% less energy +» Fastest growing cooling market segment (CAGR 24.4%)

Slide 5

|/ Efficient heat transfer through increased surface area Industry Standard apheres AE EER CETL Surface Area Increase Aid h 2 fr ER 100x - 1000 pati pd RL ies 1000 Loa Al Led Qs Th i" £4 Liquid cooling for data centers and Al More Efficient Heat Transfer Better hone i a : Lower Operational Costs Redliced Energy Consumption Easier System Scalability Easylntegration Improved Space Utilization apheros A

Slide 6

S( The global cooling market is expanding rapidly Growth Prediction Market Composition in 2029 (usp) 20.4Bn 25.080 — — a i a a 20480 he Data Center Liquid Cooling 008 8.8 Bn (CAGR 24.4%) 0.080 Apheros ) 2028 24 ms 206 207 208 208 35Mn by 2029 apheres

Slide text above is read directly from the Apheros deck PDF embedded on this page.

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