Anaphite, a Bristol, UK-based developer of production technology for battery electrodes, raised $13.7m (£10.4m) in Series A funding.
The round was co-led by World Fund, and Maniv, with participation from EEI, Nesta, and existing investors Elbow Beach Capital and Wealth Club.
The company intends to use the funds to scale-up production at a commercial facility, make key hires, and further R&D investment to expand its technology portfolio.
Launched in 2018 by chemist Sam Burrow (CTO) and physicist Alexander Hewitt (COO), and led by Joe Stevenson, CEO, Anaphite has patented chemistry-based technology with the potential to make EV battery manufacture 30% less energy intensive and up to 40% cheaper. The proprietary chemical compositing process produces fully formulated Dry Coating Precursor (DCP®) powders, ready for dry coating. Its DCP® powders are tailor-formulated to customer specifications, helping them transition from today’s energy intensive manufacturing processes to more efficient dry processes, without compromising product performance. The company is actively working with battery cell manufacturers and car OEMs to implement this technology.
Anaphite started out as a student passion project for Hewitt and Burrow, who met at the University of Bristol. They initially worked on developing methods of homogeneously incorporating graphene into metal oxide composites, and soon identified lithium-ion batteries as an ideal application for their technology.
In 2018, the duo filed for their first patent, raised £60k in pre-seed funding and moved into an incubator lab, Science Creates, to work on developing their process. By 2021 they had applied their technology to lithium-ion battery cell electrodes, secured a further £2.7m in seed and grant funding, and proven the application of their composites in dry coating feasibility trials with the University of Warwick. Following the close of another £4.1m fundraise in mid-2022, the team hired experienced CEO, former Johnson Matthey commercial strategy director, Joe Stevenson. Over the past 18 months, the company has commissioned pilot-scale manufacturing and pivoted to focus solely on the dry-coating of electrodes for lithium-ion cells.
FinSMEs
01/10/2024