Innovatium Group, a company specializing in long-duration energy storage technology, has secured £3 million (~$4 million) in funding to accelerate the deployment of its patented Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) system, PRISMA.
The funding was provided by Scottish National Investment Bank and Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems (HIES). This is the first funding investment HIES has made in a Scottish company.
Innovatium aims to address the issues of intermittency and fluctuating supply associated with renewable energy generation by offering its patented long-duration and flexible energy storage solutions for energy-intensive businesses.
“Innovatium’s novel, patented technology is highly scalable and has the potential to significantly reduce industrial carbon emissions across a range of energy-intensive industries, including data centres where the rapid acceleration of AI has caused environmental concern,” said Ailsa Young, Investment Director, Scottish National Investment Bank.
PRISMA uses off-peak electricity to cool and liquefy compressed air. It then converts this stored, liquid energy back into compressed air to generate power when needed.
“This investment gives us the platform to scale up significantly, and we can now offer a much broader portfolio of solutions, creating new value for our customers in the U.K. and globally. We have never been better placed to deliver solutions to support the energy transition,” said Brian Jack, CEO of Innovatium Group.
In addition to investing, HIES will supply core compressor components for PRISMA and expand Innovatium’s sales through its Hitachi Global Air Power and HIES Europe divisions. This partnership is likely to open new commercial opportunities for the company in international markets.
According to Mercom’s recently released Q1 2025 Funding and M&A Report for Energy Storage, VC funding in the sector fell 8% year over year, with $1.1 billion raised in 18 deals, down from $1.2 billion raised in 23 deals during the same quarter last year.
In March 2024, phelas, a provider of long-duration energy storage solutions, secured €4.1 million (~$4.5 million) in seed funding. The round was led by E44 Ventures, an Israel-leading climate tech fund, with participation from Axon Partners Group, Deutsche Telekom hubraum Fund, BNV Partners, other investors, and existing angel investors.
