Aquion Energy, an advanced battery-making company, has closed a $30 million round of venture financing as preparations are underway to launch products into the global market.
Foundation Capital led the round with participation from returning investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, as well as new investors Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV) and TriplePoint Capital. Steve Vassallo of Foundation Capital and Bill Wiberg of ATV have joined the Aquion board of directors.
Before this new round of funding the company operated on venture funding from Kleiner, as well as a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Aquion’s roots are in Pittsburg, PA where it grew from a research project at Carnegie Mellon University. The company creates grid-scale storage without having to use “hazardous materials, corrosive acids, or noxious fumes,” according to Aquion.
The advanced batteries Aquion produces are sodium ion batteries. The electrochemical couple that has emerged from this process is one that combines a high capacity carbon anode with a sodium intercalation cathode capable of thousands of complete discharge cycles over extended periods of time,” says Aquion. The batteries are said to last at least 5,000 cycles, according to Aquion.
Thanks to the large financing Aquion received, the company plans to ship prototypes out this fall to its partners and expects production models to arrive starting in 2013. Aquion hopes to start a manufacturing plant in the U.S. and is currently seeking out a location.
The market for energy storage is a growing one; Pike Research found that the energy storage market would exceed $20 billion by 2021.
That’s all for now,
Cori
