The amount of VC funding invested in battery energy storage companies in the first nine months of this year has more than doubled from the equivalent period of 2016, according to a report from Mercom Capital.

Finnish power equipment firm Wärtsilä has immediately followed up its launch of hybrid and standalone energy storage systems with the acquisition of system integrator and software specialist Greensmith Energy Management Systems (Greensmith).

Flow battery maker Primus Power was leader of the charts in VC funding in the first quarter of 2017, securing US$32 million from a range of investors, according to Mercom Capital’s latest report.

Oil and gas company Total has proposed to buy battery company Saft, which produces devices for the stationary storage industry as well as for transport and other applications.

Texas-headquarted Mercom Capital Group recently released its Q1 2016 funding and M&A report for energy storage, smart grid and energy efficiency sectors. Mercom’s CEO and co-founder Raj Prabhu discusses the energy storage trends tracked in this quarter with Energy-Storage.News, especially in light of the drop in venture capital funding this quarter.

Almost US$700 million of corporate funding went into energy storage in 2015, including US$397 million from venture capital (VC) investment, according to the latest report from Mercom Capital.

Energy storage and battery companies netted US$418 million in funding, while a further US$232 million changed hands in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of battery or storage companies during 2014, according to a new report from Mercom Capital.