TeraWatt Technology, a manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries, announced the completion of another financing round before Series C. The company has raised an undisclosed amount from investors, including the Development Bank of Japan, INPEX Corporation, JIC Venture Growth Investments, Rakuten Capital, Mori Trust, GLIN Impact Capital, and several other individual investors. The existing investors from Series B, such as Temasek, Khosla Ventures, and JAFCO, also participated in this round.
TeraWatt has been producing 5 to 8Ah commercial-grade cells through its existing pilot manufacturing facility in Japan, which have successfully passed safety testing requirements at third-party labs such as UN38.3 and IEC62133-2. The company also has a subsidiary in Japan with the support of the Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation.
The new funding is expected to strengthen the pilot-product line-ups for larger applications such as electric vehicles and energy storage systems. The company also plans to launch a large-scale pilot production facility to validate logistics, productivity, and quality control toward mass production. The company aims to achieve commercial viability and scalability of its batteries soon.
“We are thrilled to announce the completion of the Pre-C funding round to bring our development to the next step with quality and quantity,” said TeraWatt Technology founder CEO Ken Ogata, Ph.D., “In addition to our existing international investors, we are delighted to have the participation of many outstanding Japanese investors.”
According to Mercom’s Q1 2023 Storage and Smart Grid Funding and M&A Report, Total corporate funding—including venture capital (VC) funding, debt financing, and public market financing—in Energy Storage came to $2.2 billion in 27 deals compared to $4.3 billion in 31 deals in Q4 2022. Funding significantly decreased year-over-year (YoY) compared to $12.9 billion in 27 deals in Q1 2022.
Recently, Altris, a company that develops sodium-ion batteries, secured €4.8 million (~$5.2 million) in bridge financing from its current investors and employees. The funding will help the company scale its production and commercialize its technology.
