Spinout About: Energy has successfully closed a seed round of £1.5m in financing.
Tours participated in by HighSage projectsAnd Virio VenturesRishi Khosla Plug and play projectsAnd Electric revolution projects.
The financing will enable the battery software company, which began trading in 2022 after exiting the company University of Birmingham And Imperial College Londonto create an independent lab, expand the team, and accelerate industry adoption of its first product—a proprietary software platform called voltswhich was launched just two months ago.
Transitioning to electrification involves meeting the enormous engineering challenge of building products with batteries, and this requires careful modeling of how a battery generates heat, rapidly charges, and ages over its life. To do this, the company’s founders will draw on current world-leading research from Imperial College London and the University of Birmingham, which includes expertise in both electrochemistry and engineering.
Voltt is set to transform the battery value chain by offering a comprehensive library of commercially available cells and their characteristics along with advanced modeling capabilities. This will improve and clarify battery design decision-making by simplifying cell selection, improving performance evaluation, and providing detailed insights into battery behavior to improve electric vehicle use.
Voltt is currently used by cell manufacturers, battery system developers, and automotive OEMs worldwide. About: Energy’s ultimate goal is to sell Voltt to every industry that relies on batteries for energy storage.
About: The Energy Lab will be based in London. It will enable the company to understand the lifespan of hundreds of different batteries and their impact on the environment, by collecting data on performance, cost and carbon intensity and providing the industry with a dataset that can improve battery design holistically. This data is already being leveraged by About: Energy customers which include leading auto companies and battery manufacturers.
“Our focus over the next 12 months is to establish About: Energy as the leading battery data and software company, leveraging the power of The Voltt to drive innovation and efficiency in the industry,” said Gavin White, co-founder and CEO of About: Energy. This investment will enable us to Integrating the latest battery research from our partner organizations, creating a comprehensive solution for battery design and optimization.”
Professor Emma Kendrick is Professor of Energy Materials at Birmingham School of Metals and Materialscommented, “This investment will enable more knowledge transfer in characterization from academic partners and allow A:E to grow high-accuracy test methods and procedures, provide data to Voltt, and tailor-made solutions for design, manufacture, and integration of sustainable batteries.”
David Coleman, Chief Executive Officer, University of Birmingham Enterprise, said: “One of our primary goals is to see products and services launched that are based on university research. It is gratifying to see about: energy launch its first product and generate investor interest in such a short period of time. Since the company’s launch in 2022, especially since the product will help accelerate the adoption of cleaner and more environmentally friendly energy storage options.