CooliBlade Honored as Startup of the Year by BusinessOulu

We are thrilled to announce that CooliBlade (Thermal Channel Technologies Oy) has been awarded the Startup of the Year prize by BusinessOulu’s board at the annual Oulu Entrepreneur Awards ceremony, which took place at Oulu’s magnificently renovated City Hall on May 23rd, 2025.

CEO Janne Suhonen is extremely pleased with this recognition, which reflects CooliBlade’s progress:

“This recognition is a significant milestone for our team and a testament to the impact of our cutting-edge thermal management solutions for more powerful, cost-efficient, and sustainable power electronics applications. Our power electronics cooling products are used by leading companies across multiple industries, from electric vehicles to renewable energy and industrial applications.

We would like to express our special thanks to BusinessOulu and the award presenters: Chair of the City Council, Jarmo Husso; Chair of the BusinessOulu Board, Jukka Kolmonen; and Director of BusinessOulu, Juha Ala-Mursula. We also appreciate the presence of the Chair of the City Board, Mirja Vehkaperä, and Mayor Ari Alatossava at the ceremony. Our heartfelt gratitude goes to our talented team, customers, partners, the City of Oulu, and the entire Oulu innovation community for your support on this journey.”

Why CooliBlade? Pioneering Thermal Management

The jury recognized our strong growth and recent funding round from leading deep tech investors and the BusinessFinland Deep Tech Accelerator program. In addition, the jury highlighted CooliBlade’s significant contribution to emerging power electronics applications. CooliBlade has also launched a remarkable investment to ramp up production capacity in Oulu.

CooliBlade is a spin-off from VTT, the Technical Research Center of Finland, and was founded in 2021 through the VTT LaunchPad program. Our headquarters and R&D center are located in Oulu, where our team is dedicated to advancing the field of thermal management. We are proud to have filed eight thermal management patent families to date.

What sets CooliBlade apart is our unique combination of:

• Deep thermodynamics expertise
• World-class thermal modeling and simulation skills
• Industry- and application-specific know-how
• State-of-the-art thermal measurement and imaging tools

CooliBlade has developed cutting-edge NEOcore technology, the most efficient air-cooling technology for power electronics. NEOcore has 1,000 times higher thermal conductivity compared to traditional aluminum heat sinks. This superior thermal performance can boost system performance by up to 50% and lower component temperatures by up to 35°C. NEOcore technology has been developed into different product platforms for various power electronics applications, including renewable energy, EV charging, 5G telecommunications, industrial applications, and specialized electronics such as military and medical devices.

Celebrating Together

The award ceremony was attended by our founding team: CEO Janne Suhonen, CTO Kimmo Jokelainen, and Head of Strategic Applications Vesa Pentikäinen. The event brought together Oulu’s vibrant entrepreneurial community and city leaders, highlighting the spirit of innovation that defines our region.

We are honored to share the stage with other outstanding companies: Creowave Oy, awarded Export Company of the Year, and Vauhtipuisto Oy, recipient of the Stiiknafuulia Award for long-term positive impact on Oulu’s business ecosystem.

Looking Ahead

This award inspires us to continue pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in thermal management. Together with our customers and partners, we are building a cooler, more energy-efficient future.