University of Cambridge spinout Illumion has closed a £2.1 million seed investment round.
Battery material development methods have not fundamentally changed in 50 years and the process of developing a new battery material into a commercial product may take a decade.
Illumion, meanwhile, has pioneered an optical imaging technique named charge photometry which offers accessible and fast insights into how battery materials behave during the charge and discharge cycle and avoids destructive testing.
Illumion was founded in 2022 by CEO Dr Christoph Schnedermann with lead scientist Dr Alice Merryweather and builds on research undertaken by co-founders Professor Dame Clare Grey, at the Yusuf Hamied Department, and Professor Akshay Rao, at the Cavendish Laboratory.
With energy storage becoming a vital tool to facilitate the transition to electrification and enabling the use of more energy from renewable sources, it is anticipated there will be an increased demand for more diversified battery chemistries. Illumion says its technology could be a key enabler for the battery industry.
The investment round was led by the ventures team of Foresight Group, with participation from Cambridge Enterprise, Parkwalk Advisers and Cambridge Angels. It will enable Illumion to expand its team, develop advanced analytical software and pursue new market opportunities.
Andy Bloxam, managing director for Foresight’s ventures team, will join the company’s board as a non-executive director.
“Our team has developed an extremely useful technology with the potential to transform the battery R&D sector,” said Dr Schnedermann.
“Through charge photometry, labs and companies will be able to develop better batteries faster. We are tremendously excited to embark on the next phase with the Foresight and Cambridge Enterprise Ventures teams, bringing the power of charge photometry to every battery R&D lab in the world.”
Bloxam added: “Bringing breakthrough technology like this to market is exactly what the Foresight technology funds were set up to do and we are delighted to support Christoph and his exceptional team.
“We can’t wait to see the advanced insights that Illumion’s Charge Photometry will provide to battery material developers.”
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