Antora Energy, a California-based thermal energy storage developer, raised $50 million in funding.
Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Lowercarbon Capital co-led the funding round with Shell Ventures, BHP Ventures, Grok Ventures, Trust Ventures, Overture VC, Impact Science Ventures, and existing investor Fifty Years VC.
The company plans to use the fresh funds to build out its first customer-sited projects and speed up hiring.
“The manufacturing sector – including notoriously hard-to-decarbonize industries like cement, steel, and petrochemicals – accounts for a staggering 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Today, there aren’t scalable solutions to clean up the major drivers of these emissions – heat and power from combusting coal and gas,” says Andrew Ponec, CEO at Antora Energy.
Founded in 2018, Antora has developed a thermal energy storage system that absorbs renewable electricity and stores it as high-temperature heat.
According to the company, the stored thermal energy can be directly used to provide process heat up to 1500°C or converted back to electricity.
Antora has been developing its technology with support from the Department of Energy, the California Energy Commission, the National Science Foundation, the Activate Fellowship, and private investors.
“Clean energy storage for industrial heat and power will be a key enabler of tomorrow’s zero-carbon world. Antora Energy will have a major impact on lowering carbon emissions stemming from the manufacturing industry. We look forward to our partnership with Antora to help bring their critical new product to market,” said Carmichael Roberts, Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
According to Mercom’s Q4 2021 and annual funding and M&A report for storage, grid, and efficiency, global VC funding for battery storage, smart grid, and energy efficiency companies in 2021 was 290% higher with $10.1 billion compared to $2.6 billion raised in 2020. In September 2021, Sunamp, a provider of thermal energy storage systems, has $8.21 million in Series B funding from the Scottish National Investment Bank.
