Bristol-based Anaphite has secured £4.1m in seed funding to use graphene in lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles (EVs).
Graphene is stronger than steel, it also is a conductor of electricity and heat. It has the potential to take the place of silicon inside electronics.
“I truly believe we are in a great position to have a significant impact in the fight against climate change by accelerating the mass adoption of EVs with our fast-charging graphene technology,” said Alexander Hewitt, COO and co-founder, Anaphite.
The Bristol deeptech wants to use the material in lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. According to the company, the process can slot in the place of normal cell production lines and hopes to have the tech ready for commercial EV production by 2028.
Founded in 2018 by Sam Burrow and Alex Hewitt, the seed capital will be used for licence negotiations, construction of a materials demonstration reactor, testing of new applications such as drones, validating its battery prototype and its production method.
Elbow Beach Capital led the round investing £1.5m, with the remaining capital coming from Wealth Club, Blue Wire Capital, Oxford Investment Opportunity Network, Zero Carbon Capital, Silicon Roundabout Ventures and Deeptech Labs.
Jon Pollock, CEO, Elbow Beach Capital said: “The advancement of lithium-ion battery technology is an essential part of the green energy transition and Anaphite’s technology has the potential to accelerate the already rapidly growing EV market.”
Pollock also joins Anaphite’s board of directors and Joe Stevenson will join the deeptech in September as CEO.
Anaphite is not the only graphene startup Wealth club has invested in, earlier this month members invested £813,000 into 5G graphene startup CamGraPhIC.
Fellow graphene startup Paragraf earlier this week threatened to move to the US because of the lack of a government semiconductor strategy.
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