Form Energy, an iron-air-based battery systems provider, announced that it has raised $450 million in a Series E financing round which was led by TPG’s global impact investing platform, TPG Rise, with additional participation from GIC and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, along with existing investors ArcelorMittal, Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), Capricorn Investment Group, Coatue, Energy Impact Partners (EIP), MIT’s The Engine, NGP ETP, Temasek, Prelude Ventures, and Vamos Ventures.
“To meet the urgency of mitigating climate change, we must accelerate the deployment of new cost-effective technologies capable of fully decarbonizing the electric system, while maintaining grid reliability and resiliency. We are pleased to partner with Form Energy’s best-in-class team as the company scales to manufacture and broadly commercialize its breakthrough multi-day battery technology,” said Ang Eng Seng, Chief Investment Officer of Infrastructure at GIC.
Form Energy is currently engaged in a site selection process for its first full-scale battery manufacturing facility.
The company is developing and commercializing an iron-air-based battery system, which works on the basic principle of reversible rusting. While discharging, the battery breathes in oxygen from the air and converts iron metal to rust. While charging, the application of an electrical current converts the rust back to iron, and the battery breathes out oxygen.
According to Form, their solution stores energy at less than 1/10th the lithium-ion battery technology cost and stores electricity for 100+ hours. “Over the last five years, through rigorous R&D and product engineering, our 100-hour iron-air battery product is ready to scale. The Series E funding will accelerate our ability to responsibly build a globally competitive U.S. battery manufacturing supply chain,” said Mateo Jaramillo, CEO, and Co-founder of Form Energy.
Earlier this week, Loop Global, an electric vehicle charging infrastructure company, announced the completion of a $40 million Series A-1 funding round led by Fifth Wall Climate and Agility Ventures. Loop Global also raised an additional $20 million from Keystone National Group, bringing the total to $60 million.
According to Mercom’s 1H and Q2 2022 Funding and M&A Report for Storage, Grid & Efficiency, VC funding in Smart Grid companies in 1H 2022 was 58% higher, with $731 million compared to the $463 million raised in 1H 2021.
