Safeguarding Southeast Asia’s Cold Chain,
One Rental At A Time
Inside every cold room is something worth protecting: fresh food, life-saving medicine, and critical inventory.
At Polar Cold, we make cold storage accessible through hyper-local, modular rental facilities — placed close to businesses and available exactly when they’re needed.
Born from Real-World Learning, Built with Global Expertise
Polar Cold was launched in early 2024 by ENGIE Factory, the venture arm of global energy leader ENGIE.
After talking to over 700 businesses across the Philippines, we discovered the same pattern everywhere: cold storage was a bottleneck holding back growth.
Since then, we’ve built and managed multiple cold rooms across Metro Manila, achieved up to 40% energy savings, and deployed our proprietary monitoring systems in over 14 cold rooms.
Every lesson we’ve learnt from building cold rooms, energy systems, and IoT tools has shaped the model we operate today — a first-of-its-kind hyper-local cold storage rental network designed for Southeast Asia’s urban markets.
Meet the team
Jonathan Harvey
Co-Founder & CEO
Jonathan brings 15+ years of global experience in agriculture, aquaculture, and climate ventures, leading Polar Cold’s growth through sustainable infrastructure and smart technology to reduce food
loss and emissions across Southeast Asia.
Joe Liqiang Khoo
Co-Founder & CTO
Joe combines deep expertise in hardware, product development, and IoT to build Polar Cold’s energy-efficient, modular cold rooms, drawing on his experience launching award-winning products at igloohome and Lemnis Technologies.
Jose Luis Isorena
Country manager, Philippines
Luis drives Polar Cold’s growth and operations in the Philippines, leveraging a decade in food operations and foodtech (including Foodpanda’s virtual kitchens) to deliver accessible cold rooms that cut waste and empower local food businesses.
Reducing Waste, Cutting Carbon, Powering Growth
Every Polar Cold site helps reduce emissions, prevent spoilage, and support small business growth:
- Up to 40% less energy consumption per cold room
- Around 1 tonne of CO₂ saved per unit per year
- 9% reduction in food waste reported by clients
- New opportunities for local businesses to scale operations
By modernizing the region’s cold chain, we’re building a cleaner, more resilient foundation for food security and healthcare logistics across Southeast Asia.