Estonia-born energy storage startup Skeleton Technologies has raised another €51 million to boost the production of its 'ultracapacitors' (basically, batteries on steroids).
The funding isn't coming from institutional investors, we should note; Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, and the Free State of Saxony, are providing the money so Skeleton can develop new production tech to fully automate manufacturing in its Großröhrsdorf-based factory.
The financing is part of a framework called the “European Battery Innovation - EuBatIn” IPCEI, which is also investing in projects from better-known names like Tesla, Northvolt and BMW.
Taavi Madiberk, co-founder and CEO of Skeleton Technologies, said: "We are continuously investing in R&D – whether it is improving the performance of our products or the process in which we make those products. The next stage of our production will see an implementation of fully automated Industry 4.0 manufacturing techniques – a first-of-its-kind in the ultracapacitor industry."
"Coupled with our curved graphene material, we are able to dramatically decrease the cost of ultracapacitors. The ultracapacitor industry is in the same situation as lithium-ion batteries were in 1999, but our advancements in core technology and production capabilities will be able to show a cost reduction faster than for any other energy storage technology," he added.
The company hopes to bring down the production costs of its supercapacitors by almost 90% after completion of its 5-years project.
"With a projected annual volume of around €250 billion by 2025, the European battery industry will play a key role in the continent’s economic recovery. The support through the new IPCEI will enable Skeleton to advance its market-leading ultracapacitor technology and contribute greatly in making Saxony an innovation hub for climate tech," commented Christian Müller, CEO of EIT InnoEnergy in Germany, which is said to be one of the drivers of the European Battery Alliance and one of Skeleton’s backers.
Skeleton's been at it for a while now, it was founded in 2009 and we first covered the company in a podcast almost 5 years ago. The company announced a €41.3 million Series D funding round in November 2020; it's backed by the likes of Adyen alumni and the European Investment Bank, among others.
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