Mercom Capital has issued its findings from the battery and storage, smart grid and energy efficiency sectors. Image: Fraunhofer ISE.
Investment by UK tech entrepreneur and inventor James Dyson into battery company Sakti3 was among the biggest deals in the sector in the first quarter of this year, a new report has found.
Texas-headquartered consultancy Mercom Capital, this week issued the “Smart Grid, Battery/Storage, Efficiency Funding and M&A” report for Q1 2015.
Dyson is thought to have contributed a significant portion of Sakti3’s US$20 million March funding round, helping to drive venture capital (VC) investment into the battery and storage sector up by almost 50% on the final quarter of last year. In Q4 2014, Mercom reported, US$47 million was invested from VC sources, while the first quarter of 2015 saw US$69 million invested across seven VC deals, up by US$22 million, despite there being the same number of high profile deals in each quarter.
Sakti3 is looking to commercialise solid-state lithium-ion battery technology in a number of sectors, claiming its production processes can speed up the scaled manufacture of batteries. The Michigan start-up in which Dyson and others including Japan’s Itochu have taken a direct interest, appears to currently be focusing on batteries for EVs but according to various reports the company also sees potential for its products in stationary storage applications.
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The other biggest VC deal in the sector last quarter was another US$20 million raised by Boston Power, another US company making lithium-ion batteries. Meanwhile EOS Energy Storage, which develops and makes zinc hybrid cathode energy storage systems, was the recipient of US$15 million.
Mercom Capital CEO Raj Prabhu told PV Tech Storage yesterday that among the few notable mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to be disclosed in the timescale covered by the report was the acquisition of Solar Grid Storage, a utility-scale storage start-up, by the world’s largest renewable energy developer, SunEdison. Solar Grid Storage is currently active in the noted frequency regulation market offered in the service area of mid-Western US utility company PJM. In essence, the PJM market recognises and rewards the value of fast-responding frequency regulation.
The sale of Polypore International, a maker of microporous membranes for energy storage, as well as membranes for filtration in other industries including healthcare, raised US$2.2 billion in one of the other disclosed M&A deals of the quarter.
Elsewhere, solid oxide fuel cell maker Bloom Energy raised US$130 million in the only debt and public market financing deal of the quarter.
Q1 2015’s top 5 VC-funded battery/storage companies, as highlighted by Mercom. Image: Mercom.
