Sydney climate tech startup Enaxiom has raised a seed round reported at US$1.8 million to commercialise a data centre cooling system that runs on non-potable water, including wastewater, and produces clean water as a by-product. The round, reported in June 2026, takes the company’s total funding to US$2.7 million.
Water is one of the less visible costs of the AI build out. Data centres generate large amounts of heat, and many reject it by evaporating water, much of it drawn from the same drinking supply that serves homes and businesses. As more facilities are built in dry regions, competition for that water is becoming a planning and community issue alongside electricity supply.
How HydroCool works
Enaxiom’s system, called HydroCool, handles heat rejection, the final stage of moving heat out of a facility. It is designed to work alongside direct to chip and immersion cooling, the liquid based approaches increasingly used for high density AI hardware.
The difference, according to the company, is the water source. HydroCool runs on non-potable water and recovers high quality water in the process, so a data centre using it could return water rather than only consuming it.
Enaxiom describes HydroCool as a patented system built on a decade of research. A 40kW pilot demonstrated the technology, and the company is now building modular systems at commercial scale.
The raise
The seed round was led by Epic Angels, the Singapore based investor collective made up of women, with BlackNova and Antler also participating, Startup Daily reported. Enaxiom said the funds would go towards commercial deployment, hiring and expansion into the US.
The company was founded in Sydney in 2023 and is led by chief executive Tia Collings.
What’s next
The step from a 40kW pilot to commercial installations is significant. Large AI facilities are measured in tens or hundreds of megawatts, so Enaxiom will need to show that its modular units can scale and that operators are willing to adopt a newer approach for critical infrastructure. Its US expansion puts it closer to the largest pool of potential customers.
Jack’s take
Power gets most of the headlines in the data centre race, but water is the quieter fight and it is only going to get louder. I like that Enaxiom flips the problem so a facility can give water back instead of just draining it. The real proof will be a commercial deployment well beyond a 40kW pilot.