Today, Bristol battery tech company Anaphite raised £1.6 million. This consists of £685k grant funding via the Investor Partnerships Future Economy programme and more than £880k committed by private investors, including Elbow Beach Capital, Wealth Club, Bristol Private Equity Club, and angel investors.
Anaphite has a unique chemistry-based approach to manufacturing more sustainable, faster charging and lower-cost batteries to power the EV transition.
Its proprietary process produces fully formulated 'Dry Coating Precursor powders' to customer specifications, enabling them to move from today's energy-intensive solvent-based manufacturing processes to dry processes without compromising product performance.
Typically, batteries account for up to 30 per cent of an EV's total cost.
The industry is now looking to move to new 'dry' processes which remove the need for the use of cathode drying ovens and reduce energy requirements for the electrode manufacturing step by up to 90 per cent, reducing the carbon footprint of battery production whilst also avoiding the use of harmful solvents.
Anaphite's powders are tailor-formulated to customer specifications, enabling the best battery formulations to be made safely using dry processes without compromising product performance.
Anaphite's technology unlocks the benefits of the dry coating process, which will reduce the cost of the battery cell manufacturing process by up to 40 per cent, directly improving the accessibility of EVs and accelerating their widespread adoption.
Joe Stevenson, Anaphite CEO, commented:
"Anaphite has built a very strong IP position and expert teams working in electrochemistry, process chemistry and chemical engineering.
We are directing all these resources to enable the step change in battery manufacturing, which is dry electrode coating.
We are now working alongside our customers to tailor our formulations for their dry coating processes. We have a clear path to establishing a very valuable business."
Innovate UK established the partnerships programme to drive investment into high-growth innovative SMEs by aligning private investment with public funding.
In partnership with UK Research and Innovation's (UKRI) Faraday Battery Challenge, delivered by Innovate UK, the grant will enable Anaphite to accelerate the development of its dry-coating technology to reduce the cost of EV battery manufacturing.
An industrial advisory board will guide the project and provide feedback on performance targets at the electrode and cell levels, improving the robustness of Anaphite's processes.
Jon Pollock, CEO of Elbow Beach Capital, commented:
"We are delighted to have supported Anaphite in winning this grant funding, which will accelerate the rollout of their technology, which is a real enabler for accelerating EV adoption."
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