Lithium-ion battery maker Enevate has closed a $30 million round in extended Series B funding to scale production of its technology.
Its lithium-ion battery design uses silicon-dominant composite anodes to increase the energy density over graphite anode cells. The company claims the changes to material and cell design can bring a 25 percent to 50 percent increase in energy density.
“Enevate is the first to have cracked the code on truly using silicon in a production battery,” Mike Lazaridis, co-founder of Infinite Potential Technologies and Blackberry, said in a statement. “They are changing the conventional rules of the industry on Li-ion battery performance.”
The Irvine, Calif.-based startup will use the funding for mass production of the batteries with a focus on mobile applications and drones. The technology is particularly well suited to applications where size and weight are critical, which also puts electric vehicles on the short list of potential markets for Enevate. The company claims its technology can answer all of the requirements for EV batteries, but it is first targeting the enormous mobile market.
The funding was led by Lazaridis at Infinite Potential Technologies. Other investors include Tsing Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Mission Ventures, CEC Capital, and Presidio Ventures, which is part of a Sumitomo Corporation.
Another company that recently raised an $8.6 million series B for mobile charging is Qnovo. The company's battery software helps existing batteries perform better -- an approach that it hopes can scale more quickly than redesigning a battery from the ground up.
The Newark, Calif.-based startup has developed algorithms that tweak the charging process by sending packets of current instead of a constant current. The change to the charging flow can minimize charge time and cell damage while still achieving the same charge, according to Qnovo.
The algorithms also constantly track the battery’s state of health, and apply a slower charge when the battery is not performing as well. With the technology, not only do batteries charge faster, but they also last longer, the company claims.
Intel Capital joined existing investors RockPort Capital, U.S. Venture Partners, and Blue Run Ventures for the Series B.
The technology will be embedded in a yet-to-be-named smartphone in 2016, with an eye on tablets and wearables next. But electric vehicles are another application that could benefit from faster charging and also longer lifespans.
“We’ve yet to find a battery the technology doesn’t apply to,” said Abe Yokell, partner at RockPort Capital.