Indian liquid cooling startup KühlTherm launches with RDHx and CDU offerings

A new liquid cooling company, KühlTherm, has officially launched in India, marking a significant step in the country's efforts to build a domestic thermal management ecosystem for high-density computing environments. The Ahmedabad-based firm, founded by veterans of electric vehicle maker Ola Electric, announced its entry this month with a portfolio of Rear Door Heat Exchangers (RDHx) and Cooling Distribution Units (CDUs), along with the inauguration of what it claims is India's only integrated liquid cooling validation lab.

The company's RDHx systems are designed to scale from 20kW to 100kW per door, while its in-rack and in-row CDUs can deliver between 250kW and 1.5MW of cooling capacity. KühlTherm has also developed a cold plant capable of providing 300W to 2.5kW of cooling power. On the software side, the startup has built a proprietary management platform called NexusFlow OS to monitor and control its hardware offerings, aiming to provide a fully integrated solution for operators navigating the shift toward liquid cooling.

KühlTherm is backed by Arkam Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Bengaluru. The startup raised $1.1 million earlier this year in a round led by Arkam, underscoring growing investor interest in specialized infrastructure technologies that support AI and high-performance computing workloads. The funding is expected to accelerate product development and the expansion of the company's validation capabilities.

Founder and CEO Shailesh Bishnoi, who previously held a leadership role at Ola Electric, said the launch reflects a broader ambition to position India as a key player in the global thermal management supply chain. "The new RDHx and CDU are a part of our goal to help our customers confidently adopt next-generation cooling technologies, while strengthening India's position in the global thermal management ecosystem," Bishnoi said. Several other co-founders also hail from Ola Electric, where they worked on battery systems and mobility products, bringing cross-industry engineering experience to the cooling sector.

KühlTherm plans to scale its manufacturing capacity from 300MW to 2GW by 2027, a move that would significantly expand its ability to serve both domestic data center operators and international markets. As AI-driven compute densities continue to rise, liquid cooling solutions such as RDHx and CDUs are becoming increasingly critical for managing heat in modern facilities. The company's entry into the market comes at a time when India's data center sector is experiencing rapid growth, driven by cloud adoption, digital services expansion, and government-backed initiatives to boost local infrastructure.

Industry observers note that KühlTherm's focus on integrated hardware and software, combined with local manufacturing and validation capabilities, could help reduce reliance on imported cooling technologies. The establishment of a dedicated validation lab is particularly notable, as it allows customers to test and benchmark liquid cooling systems under real-world conditions before deployment. If the company meets its manufacturing targets, it could emerge as a meaningful supplier in a market increasingly defined by thermal density challenges and sustainability pressures.