Circolife has raised $4.5 million (around Rs 40.45 crore) in a pre-Series A funding round led by Bharat Jaisinghani, joint managing director of Polycab India. The round also saw participation from a group of individual, fund and family-office investors, including Nitish Mittersain, Intelliquity Ventures, Sumit Jalan, Siddharth Ladsariya, Anand Ladsariya, Anant Goenka, Sky Impact Capital, Rohit Dev, and family offices S N Damani and Vyom Wealth.
The fresh funds will be used to expand its fleet and geographic footprint, scale its in-house installation and service capabilities, and advance its AI-augmented IoT predictive-maintenance and digital twin platform, Circolife said in a press release.
Founded in 2023 by Abhishek Murarka, Tushar Patil and Devanshu Mishra, Circolife owns, installs and services the air-conditioning units it deploys throughout their working life. The startup uses embedded IoT sensors and predictive maintenance to monitor the fleet and refurbishes and redeploys units at the end of their life cycle.
The Thane-based startup said it currently operates across five Indian cities, serving small businesses and enterprise customers across restaurants, hotels, gyms, salons, co-living operators and corporate offices through a subscription-based model for cooling.
Under its subscription model, Circolife installs and maintains the air-conditioning units while customers pay a monthly fee. The company said its units are designed for energy efficiency, while its ownership of the equipment over the contract period allows it to monitor and maintain their performance.
According to Circolife, its units are connected devices equipped with sensors that track temperature, power consumption and gas pressure in real time. This data feeds into a predictive-maintenance system designed to identify potential equipment failures before they result in breakdowns. The startup is also using AI and additional sensors to build digital twins of its deployed devices.
Circolife plans to increase its subscription base fourfold and reach 40,000 units within the next 24 months.
Cooling-as-a-Service is gaining traction within India’s climate-tech and energy-efficiency startup ecosystem, allowing businesses to access air-conditioning and cooling infrastructure without making the upfront capital investment.
Smart Joules, which operates a CaaS model through its JouleCool platform, raised $10 million in Series B funding in December last year from SVL SME Neev II Fund, Waaree Renewable Technologies and Spectrum Impact. The company is using the capital to expand its cooling and energy-efficiency operations across manufacturing, building automation and district cooling.
Other startups exploring the broader cooling-as-a-service and thermal-management space include Tan90, which has raised funding for its thermal-energy-storage solutions and launched a CaaS model for cold-chain businesses.
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