About:Energy secures £1.5 million investment, including participation from HighSage Ventures, Vireo Ventures, OakNorth Bank CEO Rishi Khosla, Plug and Play Ventures, and Electric Revolution Ventures
The investment will accelerate the global adoption of About:Energy’s proprietary software platform (“The Voltt”), and establish the company as the leading battery data company
The Voltt workflow facilitates decision-making around battery selection, design and supply, saving time and resources for any business bringing battery technology to market
About:Energy, a battery technology company, has recently completed a successful seed funding round of £1.5 million. The financing will be allocated towards the rapid commercialisation and development of their software platform, The Voltt, which significantly reduces the cost to design new battery products through virtual prototyping. Shortening battery design timelines will contribute significantly to industry decarbonisation. The funds will also be used to scale their battery lab in London and expand the team. The round also included participation from Theodo CTO Fabrice Bernhard, Coltrane Asset Management Partners' Laura Webster, Mandeep Manku, Nick Banner, among many others.
Unlocking Industrial Potential
The battery industry is expected to grow to $950 billion by 2030, with global battery production estimated to reach 4.7 GWh and 27,000 companies building electrified applications. The Voltt overcomes the hurdle these companies face in commercialising the battery products needed in this transition, where traditional testing methods present high costs. As a data-focused company, About:Energy centralises the hard-to-obtain data necessary for virtual prototyping, a rapidly popularising approach in the industry. This data enables companies to make informed decisions about battery design, from materials and cells to entire systems. By offering a comprehensive library of commercially available cells and their attributes alongside advanced modeling capabilities, The Voltt enables informed design decisions which save time and resources.
The Voltt will ultimately be sold to every industry that relies upon batteries but is currently being used by cell manufacturers, battery system developers, and automotive OEMs around the world. The investment round will enable About:Energy to accelerate the adoption of this platform within the industry, while also leveraging existing world-leading research from top institutions such as Imperial College London, the University of Birmingham, and The Faraday Institution.
Kieran Borrett, Plug and Play UK Director, noted,
"Our partnership with About:Energy highlights the importance of innovation in the UK and our commitment to partnering with emerging leaders to shape the future of mobility. We look forward to supporting About:Energy to scale throughout the global Plug and Play ecosystem.”
Fuelling UK's Ascent in Battery Technology
Currently possessing exclusive intellectual property licenses from three universities, About:Energy intends to expand this pipeline to five by year's end. This expansion will allow the company to capitalise on tens of millions of pounds of existing UK research in modelling, measurement, and machine learning technologies.
Gavin White, Co-Founder and CEO of About:Energy, said,
"Our focus for the next 12 months is to establish About:Energy as a leading battery data and software company, leveraging the power of The Voltt to drive innovation across industry. This investment will enable us to integrate the latest research from our partnering institutions, creating a comprehensive solution for battery design and optimisation.”
Rishi Khosla, Co-Founder of OakNorth, commented
"Having invested in About:Energy during its initial stages, I am excited by its focus on developing technologies needed to address global challenges such as energy security. I am confident that with focus and discipline, startups like About:Energy can build resilient, profitable businesses even amidst economic uncertainties, driving us towards a more sustainable future. The best entrepreneurs thrive in times of turmoil.”
Felix Krause, Partner at Vireo Ventures, added,
"We are excited that The Voltt will play a pivotal role in driving sustainability and decarbonisation throughout the entire battery supply chain, from mining and manufacturing to electric vehicles."
Following the launch of The Voltt at The Royal Academy of Engineering, the platform is now being used by customers across industries to accelerate their product development. For more information, please visit aboutenergy.io/voltt or contact sales@aboutenergy.co.uk.
About:Energy Profile
About:Energy, a London-based leading battery software company, was founded in 2021 by Gavin White and Kieran O'Regan. The company focuses on building a portfolio of battery measurement and modelling capabilities to deliver a comprehensive software solution for battery design. About:Energy's solutions accelerate the adoption of sustainable technologies, extend the lifetime of battery systems, and reduce material requirements for products. The founders, Gavin White and Kieran O'Regan, spun out the company from leading UK universities Imperial College London and the University of Birmingham in 2021.
About:Energy provides organisations with the necessary tools to streamline their R&D processes, reduce time-to-market, and improve battery system performance. The company's data-driven approach supports better decision-making across the entire value chain, from mining to end-of-life. Key activities include battery system design, lifetime prediction, and cell optimisation. About:Energy caters to organisations across the automotive, manufacturing, and aerospace industries.
Vireo Ventures Profile
Vireo Ventures is a European venture capital firm specialising in early-stage investments in technology companies driving the energy transition through electrification. With our Vireo Electrification Fund, we invest in and actively support companies involved in renewable energy production and storage, smart grid solutions, as well as applications spanning e-mobility, real estate, and industrial sectors. Our mission is to shape and accelerate the transition towards sustainable energy solutions.
Plug and Play Ventures Profile
Plug and Play Tech Center is a leading innovation platform and one of the most active early-stage VC firms globally with multiple success stories and 30+ unicorns in the portfolio, including PayPal, Honey, N26 and Einride. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Plug and Play invests across more than 20 industries. Their European mobility offices are located in Stuttgart, London, Modena and Gothenburg.
Electric Revolution Ventures Profile
Electric Revolution Ventures invests in and partners with early stage companies that are enabling the electric revolution by pioneering new battery, energy storage and related technologies, including battery chemistry innovation, new software, systems and business models, and advancements in battery recycling and supply-chain management.
