Ultracapacitor Maker Ioxus Raised $15M in Series-C Funding, Seeks $20M
Oneonta, NY-based Ioxus, Inc. received $15 million in Series-C Funding on July 12 and is seeking to raise $20 million in total. The round was led by the The Westly Group with participation from Northwater Capital Management, Braemar Energy Ventures, Energy Technology Ventures, and Aster Capital.
The company makes ultracapacitors that rapidly absorb and release high-voltage power. The devices can store power generated by solar and wind farms or be paired with batteries in electric vehicles to capture energy from braking.
A spin-off from 40-year-old Custom Electronics, Inc. in Oneonta, Ioxus emerged as a standalone company in 2007.
Flow Battery Firm Sun Catalytix Raises $4M, Seeking $12M Total
Cambridge, MA-based Sun Catalytix Corp. received $4 million on July 8 from five unnamed investors and is seeking to raise $12 million in total. The company previously received $9.5 million in Series-B funding in 2010 from Polaris Venture Partners and Tata Group. The company also received a $4 million grant from the U.S. Energy Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Spun out of MIT in 2009, Sun Catalytix is developing flow batteries made from abundant materials in order to develop an affordable, safe and scaleable energy storage technology. In 2011, it switched gears from developing “artificial leaf” technology (when that proved too costly) to its current technology, which it feels has more near-term commercial viability.
Hedge Fund Invests in Restructured Lithium Ion Battery Maker
Global hedge fund Precept Fund Management made a $2.5 million private placement into U.S. battery company Oak Ridge Micro-Energy (OKME) on July 8.
The private placement follows an eight-month restructuring for Melbourne, FL-based Oak Ridge Micro-Energy, which specializes in solid state battery technology, including solar rechargeable lithium ion batteries, with revenue expected to come in the fourth quarter of this year, according to the company’s president, Jeffrey Flood.
Precept Fund Management has also invested in a Swiss battery company named Leclanche, according to the fund’s investment manager, Steve Barber.
Formula One Flywheel Storage Firm Receives Grant to Target Grid
The U.K.’s Williams Advanced Engineering has been awarded a grant from the U.K.’s Department of Energy and Climate Change’s Energy Entrepreneurs Fund on July 10 to develop flywheel-based energy storage systems for use in grid stabilization. Up to $24 million will be shared between 30 projects that have been awarded the grant under the first phase of the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund.
Williams has developed a novel, patented electromechanical composite flywheel system that provides a high-power, cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution for mobile energy recovery and storage. The first application of the technology was in the highly competitive and extremely harsh environment of Formula One racing.
The company’s technology center is based in Qatar with a factory based in Oxfordshire, England.