Detroit city skyline with tall buildings, including a water tower, in a bright blue sky with clouds.

just-in-time

Thermal Controls

Founded in 2022, ThermoVerse is a Smart City Innovation and Advanced Thermal Controls startup modernizing buildings to meet the rising energy demands of tomorrow — from ceiling to grid.

Our Mission

Transforming the grid edge- one building at a time

We help building owners transform their energy systems into high-value assets. We drive smart load growth—from the energy management system to portfolio expansion—by deploying groundbreaking thermal-management solutions that eliminate waste at the grid edge, converting residual building energy into a Net Operating Income (NOI)-boosting asset to power the future of AI, data centers, and electric mobility.

Two young men working together on an electronics project at a workbench in a workshop.
A man wearing glasses and a gray shirt installing or fixing a ceiling vent or ceiling panel in an indoor space.

History

2025 Scaling Smart Operations

ThermoVerse is actively deploying projects with a goal of growing into the portfolio of commercial, industrial, and multifamily buildings. Through strategic partnerships with forward-thinking developers and utilities, we’re growing our capacity to meet surging energy demands—from data centers to electric mobility—while strengthening building assets for the era of smart-cities.

2024 Emergence of SIMs

ThermoVerse collaborates with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to advance Smart Integrated Material systems (SIMs) — a patented family of compact, self-contained units that embed sensing, thermal energy storage, and control directly into ceilings and walls. SIMs orchestrate heat flows in real time, minimizing waste, stabilizing indoor environments, and unlocking load flexibility for operators and utilities alike.

2023 A New Class of Materials

ThermoVerse unveiled a breakthrough phase-change formulation: a novel class of active thermal-energy storage material systems that turns passive thermal storage into an active grid-interactive asset — enabling advanced building control strategies like demand response and HVAC TOU (Time of Use) optimization. These formulations overcome the limitations of legacy thermal storage — delivering consistent performance from ceiling to grid.

2022 A Purpose-Driven Beginning

Seeing a major opportunity to alleviate grid burden, Shantonio Birch founded ThermoVerse with a bold vision: purpose-driven design that blends efficiency, comfort, and resilience. Rather than passive thermal storage, he set out to create dynamic, intelligently controlled systems that actively dispatch stored thermal energy when and where it’s needed most.

2021 A Paradigm Shift

The COVID-19 stay-at-home orders laid bare systemic failings in building performance: poor air quality, widespread heat stress, and wildly variable HVAC efficacy across climate zones. Nearly 1 in 3 U.S. households reported challenges sustaining adequate heating and cooling, and 1 in 10 said they kept their homes at unhealthy or unsafe temperatures, requiring new solutions. 

Founding principles

Lowering HVAC energy burden today to ensure the resilient grid edge of tomorrow.


Detroit urban street view with parked cars, residential buildings on both sides, and a city skyline with tall skyscrapers in the background.
  • As electrical demands surge from data centers and electric mobility, optimizing building energy use is critical for ensuring sustainable smart cities.

  • We develop the technologies that harness waste heat to significantly reduce HVAC operational load, ensuring buildings are efficient and grid-ready.

  • Our work is vital for addressing rising loads from EVs and data centers, ensuring a resilient and interoperable energy network — from the building edge to the grid edge.

Join US
  • leading by FAITHE

    Driven by Purpose. Leading by Action.

  • F - Foundational Excellence

    Embracing first-principles thinking approach to problem-solving. 

  • A - Agency

    Valuing lived experience in empowering individuals to act and make decisions.

  • I - Intentionality

    Working together through authentic engagement and a shared purpose.

  • T - Transparency

    Building trust through open and honest communication.

  • H - Horizon

    Innovating the future while responsibly managing the trust that has been built.

  • E - Relational (Equity)

    Fostering strong, positive relationships through mutual trust and shared understanding.