Oxford University spinout Brill Power has raised £8.8 million to support its mission to make batteries smarter, cleaner, safer and longer-lasting.
The company is pioneering a new way to manage batteries, billed as Active Loading, which claims to increase battery life by up to 60% and allows used batteries to discharge up to 46% more energy through a combination of hardware and intelligent software.
Brill says its technology is a key enabler for battery systems in applications including commercial & industrial buildings, on and off grid energy storage, residential homes and electric vehicles in a market estimated to be worth $400 billion by 2030.
The round was led by two new blue-chip investors – Legal & General Capital and Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital Programme – and supported by existing investors including Oxford Science Enterprises, Oxford Investment Consultants and Oxford University.
Shell Ventures and Climate KIC have also become shareholders.
The company, which featured on our recent FactoryTech 50 ranking, will use the funding to double its team size across both engineering and commercial operations, while expanding its product range for both static energy storage and for the world’s largest battery market – electric vehicles – based on successful projects completed with Aston Martin, AMTE Power and Delta Cosworth.
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Finally, the funding will support the next phase in the development of the company’s data platform BrillAnalytics to help customers monitor and predict battery safety, health and performance data remotely.
“Thanks to our exceptional team at Brill, we have made great strides over the past two years,” said CEO Dr Christoph Birkl. “We have a ground-breaking commercial product in the marketplace and a pipeline of new developments and products to address the stationary energy storage and automotive markets.
“Our progress and our potential has attracted an impressive cadre of both existing and new investors.
“We now have the means to act on the opportunity to offer the market a step-change in improvements for zero-emissions technologies – for the benefit of our investors, our customers and also the community we serve.”
John Bromley, managing director, clean energy at Legal & General Capital, said: “As we grow our climate and clean energy platform, investing in Brill Power is an exciting move into energy storage technologies that are crucial to enable an increase of renewables on the power grid, electrification of transport, and to power our homes, businesses and key infrastructure.
“Through extended lifetimes, improved safety, and waste reduction, Brill Power’s work is setting a new standard for how to store and use clean power to accelerate progress to our net zero emissions goals.”