A Bristol battery technology company has raised £10.4m in a Series A funding round. Anaphite, launched in 2018 by chemist Sam Burrow and physicist Alexander Hewitt, has developed tech that has the potential to make electric vehicle battery manufacturing cheaper and less energy intensive.
The latest fundraise was co-led by World Fund, a European climate venture capitalist (VC), and Maniv, a global early-stage VC. A cohort of climate investors also joined, including EEI and Nesta, with further participation from existing investors Elbow Beach Capital and Wealth Club.
Anaphite will use the capital to scale-up and expand as well as commissioning a plant. The funding will also support new jobs and further R&D investment to expand its technology portfolio, the firm said.
Mr Hewitt, chief operating officer, said: “There is an acute hunger for change and improvement in the industry. Our technology has the power to revolutionise the electrode production process while lowering costs and emissions for EV and cell manufacturers, and we can’t wait to see it in action.”
Anaphite started out as a student passion project for Mr Hewitt and Mr Burrow, who met at the University of Bristol. The duo filed for their first patent in 2018, raised £60,000 in pre-seed funding and moved into an incubator lab to work on developing their process.
By 2021 the pair had applied their technology to lithium-ion battery cell electrodes, secured a further £2.7m in seed and grant funding, and proven the application of their composites in dry coating feasibility trials with the University of Warwick.
Following the close of another £4.1m fundraise in mid-2022, the team hired former Johnson Matthey commercial strategy director Joe Stevenson as chief executive. In March, the company raised £1.6m, consisting of £685,000 grant funding from Innovate UK’s Investor Partnerships Future Economy programme and more than £880,000 from private investors.
Mr Stevenson, said: “Securing capital from investors that are renowned specialists in mobility, energy, and environmental investment around the world, is a huge validation moment for Anaphite, and affords us the resources to extend our technical lead in the market.”
Mr Burrow added: “We’ve achieved things the industry has previously thought impossible.”