Milestone funding for next generation battery technology company
LiNa Energy has closed out a £3.5m late seed funding round, attracting a combination of existing and new investors who recognise the vast potential of its game-changing battery technology.
This funding will enable the company to advance its technology through expanding its laboratory facilities, stepping up recruitment and buying new equipment which will accelerate the commercialisation plan and ultimately when it is market-ready.
LiNa Energy, a spin-out from Lancaster University, established in 2017, is commercialising a safe, cobalt and lithium-free solid state sodium battery.
The innovative design has the potential to greatly exceed both lithium-ion and rest-of-market sodium-ion technologies on all performance measures, and at a cost of less than $50/kWh.
It is predicted that, if scaled-up, the LiNa Energy battery could save around 4.5 billion tonnes of CO2 per annum by 2050, accelerating global efforts towards net zero.
The funding, alongside recent grant success, gives LiNa Energy a firm foundation on which to focus on two core activities:
Accelerating the technology development by tripling the Lancaster-based laboratory, raising the headcount from 20 to 30 by the end of 2022 and buying additional equipment to improve speed and quality of cell manufacturing processes
And progressing commercialisation activities by securing customer trial partners in primary target markets of stationary energy storage and transport
Dr Gene Lewis, CEO of LiNa Energy, said: “This investment is a significant step towards achieving our goal to deliver a safe, affordable, mass production solution to accelerate the two global mega-trends: Electrification of transport and decarbonisation of energy.
“For a small, yet disruptive, technology company like LiNa Energy, this funding is critical.
“It provides us with a 24-month runway and enables us to push forward our commercialisation plans prior to building a pre-commercial production line in 2023.”
The company expects to be fundraising in late 2022 to fund the construction of a pre-commercial production line in 2023.
The pre-commercial production line will demonstrate the ability to manufacture batteries at consistent quality and provide the capacity to meet thedemands of customer trial programmes.
