Hayzel
Converts wasted refrigerant expansion energy in commercial chillers into carbon-free electricity and additional cooling.
Website: https://www.hayzel.co/
Cover Block
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Company Name | Hayzel |
| Tagline | Converts wasted refrigerant expansion energy in commercial chillers into carbon-free electricity and additional cooling. |
| Headquarters | Alameda, CA |
| Founded | 2024 |
| Stage | Pre-Seed |
| Business Model | Hardware + Software |
| Industry | Cleantech / Climatetech |
| Technology | Hardware |
| Geography | North America |
| Growth Profile | Venture Scale |
| Founding Team | Co-Founders (2) |
| Funding Label | Seed |
| Total Disclosed | $3.6M (estimated) [PitchBook, retrieved 2026] |
Links
- Website: https://www.hayzel.co/
Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Confirmed by company website and Data Center World article.
Summary and Signal
Hayzel is an early-stage cleantech startup developing a retrofit turbine that recovers wasted energy from refrigerant expansion in commercial chillers, converting it into on-site electricity while improving cooling efficiency [Data Center World, April 2024]. The company's wedge targets a critical inefficiency in large-scale cooling systems, a multi-billion-dollar market dominated by legacy manufacturers, offering a path to reduce energy costs and emissions for data centers and industrial facilities without requiring a full system replacement. Founded in 2024, the company is led by co-founders Matt Price and Nate Turner; Price brings a background in energy venture capital and hard-tech commercialization from his prior role leading the Cyclotron Road fellowship program [LinkedIn, retrieved 2026].
Hayzel's core product, the Liquid-Vapor Expander (LVE), is a two-phase turbine generator designed to be installed on existing chillers in a week or less, aiming to improve the chiller's coefficient of performance by an estimated 10% and generate carbon-free power from a process that traditionally dissipates energy as waste heat [Data Center World, April 2024]. The company has raised a reported $3.6 million in a seed round from the Cool Climate Collective [PitchBook, retrieved 2026]. A key near-term milestone is the ongoing pilot of an 800-ton chiller system at a California data center in collaboration with Digital Realty and the NREL/Wells Fargo IN2 program [Data Center World, retrieved 2026].
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Core product claims are confirmed by a trade publication, but funding details are from a single database and team background is partially corroborated.
Taxonomy Snapshot
| Axis | Classification |
|---|---|
| Stage | Pre-Seed |
| Business Model | Hardware + Software |
| Industry / Vertical | Cleantech / Climatetech |
| Technology Type | Hardware |
| Geography | North America |
| Growth Profile | Venture Scale |
| Founding Team | Co-Founders (2) |
| Funding | Seed (total disclosed ~$3,600,000) |
Company Overview
Hayzel was founded in 2024 as a cleantech venture focused on a specific, overlooked inefficiency within large-scale cooling systems. The company is headquartered in Alameda, California [LinkedIn, retrieved 2026]. The founding story centers on the idea of converting a standard thermodynamic process, refrigerant expansion, from a source of waste into a source of power, turning commercial chillers into what co-founder Matt Price termed "miniature power plants" [Data Center World, April 2024].
The company's first major public milestone was the announcement of a prototype deployment of its Liquid-Vapor Expander (LVE) technology on an 800-ton water-cooled chiller at a data center in California [Data Center World, April 2024]. This pilot is being conducted in collaboration with the NREL/Wells Fargo IN2 program and data center operator Digital Realty [Data Center World, April 2024].
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Company details are confirmed via a single trade publication feature and the company website.
The Product and the Stack
Hayzel's product is a hardware retrofit designed to capture energy that is otherwise wasted in a fundamental process of commercial cooling. The core of the system is a Liquid-Vapor Expander (LVE), a two-phase turbine generator that replaces or supplements the standard expansion valve in a commercial chiller [Data Center World, April 2024]. When high-pressure refrigerant from the chiller's condenser passes through the LVE, the fluid's expansion rotates the turbine, which is linked to a generator to produce electricity [Data Center World, April 2024]. This process simultaneously reduces the refrigerant to the lower pressure required for the evaporator, fulfilling the valve's original function while creating usable power [Data Center World, April 2024].
This energy recovery yields two primary benefits: it generates carbon-free electricity on-site and increases the overall cooling capacity of the chiller, improving its coefficient of performance (COP) [Data Center World, April 2024]. The company claims its technology can achieve a 10% improvement in a chiller's COP and reduce energy consumption by over 121,000 kWh per year for an 800-ton unit [Data Center World, April 2024]. The system is designed as a retrofit, with the company stating installation on existing chillers can be completed in a week or less [Hayzel, retrieved 2026].
Public validation is centered on a prototype deployed on an 800-ton water-cooled chiller using R134a refrigerant at a data center in California operated by Digital Realty [Data Center World, April 2024]. This pilot is part of the NREL/Wells Fargo IN2 program [Data Center World, April 2024].
Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Core product claims and pilot details are confirmed by a named trade publication and the company's website.
The Market They Are Entering
The market for commercial cooling efficiency is a critical pressure point in the global energy transition. According to a January 2026 report, the global chillers market is expected to grow from $10.94 billion in 2025 to $13.3 billion by 2030, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4% [GlobeNewswire, January 2026].
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Chillers Market 2025 | $10.94B |
| Chillers Market 2030 | $13.3B |
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Market sizing from a single third-party report; demand driver claims are company-sourced.
The Competitive Field
Hayzel enters a market defined by established hardware giants and a nascent ecosystem of retrofit specialists.
| Company | Positioning | Stage / Funding | Notable Differentiator |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hayzel | Retrofit turbine generating electricity from refrigerant expansion. | Pre-Seed; $3.6M raised (estimated) | Two-phase energy recovery producing carbon-free electricity. |
| Trane | Full-service HVAC manufacturer. | Public (NYSE: TT) | Global service network. |
| Carrier | Manufacturer of chillers. | Public (NYSE: CARR) | Extensive product line. |
| Johnson Controls | Building technology and equipment provider. | Public (NYSE: JCI) | Deep integration with building automation. |
| Daikin | Global manufacturer of air conditioning. | Public (TYO: 6367) | Broad portfolio. |
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Competitor profiles are based on public company information; Hayzel's differentiation is confirmed by a single trade publication and its website.
Opportunity
Hayzel’s opportunity is to become the default energy recovery retrofit for the global installed base of large-scale chillers. The company’s wedge is retrofitting existing infrastructure of data centers and industrial facilities. The core technical principle, capturing energy from refrigerant expansion, is a known engineering opportunity, and Hayzel’s prototype deployment with Digital Realty through the NREL/Wells Fargo IN2 program provides a critical beachhead [Data Center World, April 2024].
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- The core opportunity thesis is supported by cited technical descriptions and a named pilot partnership.
Sources
- [Data Center World, April 2024] How Hayzel is turning data center cooling systems into energy-generating assets | https://datacenterworld.com/article/how-hayzel-is-turning-data-center-cooling-systems-into-energy-generating-assets/
- [Hayzel, retrieved 2026] Hayzel | https://www.hayzel.co/
- [PitchBook, retrieved 2026] Hayzel 2026 Company Profile: Valuation, Funding & Investors | https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/1372657-15
- [LinkedIn, retrieved 2026] Matt Price | https://linkedin.com/in/mbprice
- [GlobeNewswire, January 2026] Chillers Market to Grow by $2 Billion During 2026-2030 Reaching $13.3 Billion | https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/01/27/3226274/28124/en/chillers-market-to-grow-by-2-billion-during-2026-2030-reaching-13-3-billion-carrier-daikin-industries-trane-technologies-hitachi-air-conditioning-co-and-johnson-controls-lead-the-i.html
- [Carrier] Heat Recovery Chillers: The Energy-Saving Solution | https://www.carrier.com/commercial/en/us/products/chillers-components/heat-recovery/
- [Data Center World, retrieved 2026] Startup Tech in Data Centers? How 7 Startups Are Trying to Break Through | https://datacenterworld.com/article/startup-tech-in-data-centers-how-7-startups-are-trying-to-break-through/
- [Rackcdn.com, retrieved 2026] n@hayzel.co - Rackcdn.com | https://146a55aca6f00848c565-a7635525d40ac1c70300198708936b4e.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/images/e2ae796d361ad68ccbe2efa928b1369c33991819.pdf
Articles about Hayzel
- Hayzel's Turbine Turns a Data Center's Chiller Into a Power Plant — The startup is retrofitting refrigerant expansion valves with energy-recovery turbines, betting a $3.6M seed round on a niche in industrial efficiency.