Lancaster based 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 their game-changing battery technology. This funding will enable the company to advance their technology through expanding their laboratory facilities, stepping-up recruitment and buying new equipment which will accelerate their commercialisation plan and ultimately when they are 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 ~4.5bn 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 upon 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 the demands of customer trial programmes.
