SprayCool gains funding, cuts 45 jobs

Liberty Lake-based SprayCool Inc. announced Tuesday it has gained $10 million in new funding, and cut 45 jobs, as the technology company ramps up high-end cooling solutions for commercial data centers.

The company’s new investment is key to a 2007 strategy to win contracts with major data center companies for its solvent-based cooling systems, said company President and CEO Jeff Severs.

Severs also said the company eliminated about 45 jobs in a “restructuring” to establish cost savings as it moves forward. The company headcount is around 180 after the reductions, he said.

“These are difficult decisions, but moves that are critical to our continued success,” Severs said in a press release.

The reductions took place at the privately held company’s Liberty Lake center and at other offices in Seattle and Pullman, Severs said.

SprayCool — originally Isothermal Systems Research — was created in 1988 and has largely relied on contracts with the military for its primary sales. In 2005 it announced plans to move into the commercial data center market.

SprayCool’s new investors include The Sand Hill Sakura Fund, based in Menlo Park, Calif.; Fluke Venture Partners of Bellevue; and Northwest Venture Associates, of Spokane.

Additional investment in this latest round also came from existing investor Banyan Capital Partners, of Seattle.

“The close of this new investment is a key indicator of the interest the financial community sees as we continue to accelerate the growth of our business,” said Severs.

SprayCool also announced two former executives from Spokane Valley-based Itronix Corp. have joined the company. Matt Gerber has become SprayCool’s executive vice president of commercial business; Paul Pimentel is the new vice president and chief financial officer.

Gerber recently was senior vice president for global sales and marketing at Itronix, which makes ultrarugged computers.

Pimentel was the executive vice president and chief financial officer at Itronix for nine years.