From Waste to Watts: Breakthrough Heat-to-Power Conversion

Through one such connection, we met Gil Aginsky, a former Navy Rear Admiral with a visionary strategy to combat the climate crisis. Introduced by Oded Gour-Lavie, former Navy Rear Admiral and CEO of nT-Tao, an NGV portfolio company, Gil’s passion for impactful change immediately stood out. This encounter led to TherMagiX becoming one of the latest additions to our portfolio

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Gil’s entrepreneurial journey began after retiring from the Navy, where he spent 17 years commanding submarines and managing large-scale operations. Concerned by the massive inefficiency of wasted heat in industrial systems, he imagined a way to convert that lost energy into usable power. What started as a personal challenge turned into a revolutionary venture.

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To bring this vision to life, Gil turned to the Technion, Israel’s leading global technology institute, seeking scientific expertise. There, he met the inventors of Phase Change Thermoacoustics: Professors Guy Ramon, Environmental Engineering at Technion, and Yehuda Agnon, from MIT and Technion. Their groundbreaking research offered an exciting solution: sound waves could be the key to transforming wasted heat into usable energy. The idea was bold and unconventional, but aligned perfectly with Gil’s mission to tackle one of the biggest inefficiencies in industrial energy.

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The collaboration quickly evolved into a founding team combining operational excellence with deep technical knowledge. Nir Halup joined as VP of R&D, bringing experience from Addionics, another NGV portfolio company, and leadership roles at leading tech firms to help transition the concept into a product.

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TherMagiX’s revolutionary system converts waste heat into electricity using phase-change thermoacoustic principles. Unlike traditional methods, TherMagiX eliminates moving parts, reducing CapEx, maintenance and complexity. Crucially, the system operates efficiently at temperatures below 100°C, capturing “low-grade” heat that traditional systems (which require at least 150°C) cannot. This enables diverse applications, including shipping, recovering engine waste heat to save fuel, and data centers, repurposing server heat for cooling, a capability increasingly important with the rise of Gen AI. Notably, its reliability has led to use in projects at NASA, among others.

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The impact is significant: nearly 50% of industrial energy is lost as low-grade waste heat, of which 63% is below 100°C. TherMagiX’s solution promises substantial economic and environmental benefits by recovering enough waste heat to potentially boost a facility’s overall energy efficiency by up to 50% and save hundreds of tons of GHG.

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TherMagiX joined NGV’s Seeding Program, which helps startups move from concept to working prototype. With our unique ecosystem and access to industry insights, TherMagiX was able to quickly validate the value of its technology and adjust it to real market needs.

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Now, TherMagiX’s vision is closer than ever to becoming a reality. We’re proud to support their journey and look forward to the impact they’ll create in the years ahead.

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