UNIGRID Battery announces $12 Million Series A round
Summary
The investment will accelerate and scale-up UNIGRIDs battery production to fulfill MWh-scale customer orders in the electric mobility and stationary storage markets. "Advanced sodium-ion batteries will be a key enabler of widespread, distributed energy storage in the residential, commercial, and industrial markets. The UNIGRID team couples the technology breakthrough with commercial execution that we rarely see from startups at this stage, stated Mona Alsubaei, Partner at Transition. "The unprecedented performance demonstrated in UNIGRIDs sodium-ion batteries presents a unique opportunity not only in the stationary storage space, but also in the fast growing electric mobility space, addressing core challenges of safety, wide temperature operation and downward price pressures of electric vehicles," noted Sangbin Ong, Managing Director at Ritz Venture Capital.A key strength to UNIGRIDs technology is its drop-in compatibility with conventional Li-ion battery manufacturing infrastructure, along with off-the-shelf availability of materials in the existing supply chain. This has resonated well with customers and system integrators looking for immediate alternatives to Li-ion batteries.UNIGRID Battery, a University of California, San Diego spin-off company, was founded in 2021 from the groundbreaking Ph.D. research work by Dr. Darren H. S. Tan and Dr. Erik A. Wu, who were both advised by Prof. Zheng Chen and Prof. Shirley Meng, prominent figures in the battery field.