Maxwell Labs develops a ‘photonic waveguide network’ that distributes light across microchip surfaces and converts chip heat into light to enable photonic heat transfer and recovery. The company reports the method can recover up to 90% of converted heat and argues recovered heat could cover typical data-center cooling costs. Founded in 2022 by Jacob Balma, Mike Karpe and Alejandro Rodriguez, Maxwell is led by CEO Jacob Balma and lists Mike Karpe as Chief Growth Officer. It is currently in the prototype phase and has raised $4.5 million in seed financing and $5.2 million in a Series A. Maxwell plans to commercialize the technology in 2028 and is positioning the solution to address rising energy and water consumption in data centers driven by AI and cloud workloads.

Total raised

$5M

Funding rounds

1

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

Apr 2026