AT Energy pilots $1.9m

AT Energy, a spin-out of Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and Moscow Power Engineering Institute, has raised $1.9m in funding from Phystech Ventures and North Energy Ventures.

AT Energy, based on research by Yuri Dobrovolsky from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and Sergey Nefedkin from the Moscow Power Engineering Insitute, is working on fuel cell technology. In September 2014, it demonstrated a drone powered by AT’s fuel cells which allowed the drone to fly for 11 hours – an increase of nine hours over currently used technology.

As part of the investment, which was conducted over two rounds, Peter Lukyanov, managing director at Phystech Ventures, joined AT Energy’s board.

Phystech Ventures was launched in 2013 by Peter Lukyanov and Olga Maslikhova at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. North Energy is a venture fund with a base in Moscow and California.

Peter Lukyanov, managing director at Phystech Ventures, said: “We like AT Energy’s strategy: in their target market the use of fuel cells brings huge improvements, which means that consumers are ready to pay a high price. We are seeing positive trends in the drone sector: the world market is already worth over $7bn. Russia will spend more than $10bn on drones in the next six years. We aim to help the company to compete against Horizon, Protonex and other global players in the sector.”