AC-U of T startup tackles the growing challenge of cooling powerful technologies

A new AI-driven startup founded at the University of Toronto and supported by the Acceleration Consortium (AC) is heating up the tech space by helping to cool down energy-intensive technologies and infrastructure.

Launched in November 2025, FL01 has developed patented sensor technology to accelerate the discovery of coolants for heat management in battery packs, high-power electronics and data centres, among other applications.  

“Our sensors work 100 times faster to test and measure the thermophysical, or heat-related properties, of potential new fluids than the methods currently used in industry,” says Mohammed Zargartalebi, FL01’s chief executive officer and U of T research associate. “These sensors are part of our self-driving lab (SDL), which can reduce research and development timelines from years to weeks.”

Cooling fluids help transfer heat and are essential to industrial processes across multiple sectors, including energy, electronics, transportation and manufacturing. As the demand for processing power in technology increases, finding new, more sustainable, high-performing cooling fluids that enable precise temperature control could help industries operate more efficiently and produce safer products.  

Zargartalebi says FL01 has attracted early interest from several multinational technology and energy companies that require increasingly powerful electrical systems, but face cooling challenges.  

“Conventional cooling systems and liquids cannot respond to the growing demands of emerging technologies, which are generating heat faster than it can be removed,” he says. “It can take these big companies five to 10 years to develop new fluids, which is where we think we can offer a rapid solution.”  

While FL01’s technological innovation lies in the scale and speed of its self-driving lab’s testing capabilities, Zargartalebi says the data generated by the technology may ultimately prove most valuable.  

“The information our technology is generating is unprecedented,” he says. “Data on thermal fluids has been slow to collect because of manual testing, with an estimated 4,000 publicly available data points collected over the last 100 years. One of our devices can generate 10,000 data points in two months.”

FL01 commercializes research that began in 2022 at the Sinton Lab, led by David Sinton, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Engineering at U of T.  

Sinton and the multidisciplinary lab team of mechanical and chemical engineers use self-driving lab (SDL) technologies, including robotics and automation, that led to the spinout.  

The lab pursued commercialization with support from the Acceleration Consortium (AC), a major research initiative at U of T focused on the accelerated discovery of new materials and molecules.  

Through its programs, workshops and conferences, in addition to a global network of nearly 100 academic, industry and government partners, the AC helped FL01 tap into a broader startup community.

“The AC has helped us learn more about SDL tools and technologies from researchers around the world and connected us with key industry partners and opportunities,” says Zargartalebi. “We’re grateful to be part of the ecosystem the AC has built.”  

FL01 is currently prototyping its technology with several industry partners as it works toward commercial applications in thermal management and fluid testing and discovery.

To learn more about FL01, visit their website: fl01.com  

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Thumbnail image: FL01’s self-driving lab (SDL) setup, which uses patented sensor technologies to measure and test potential new thermal fluids, including coolants. Photo Credit: FL01