Nexeon, the Imperial College London spinout that develops rechargeable lithium ion batteries, has now secured in excess of $120m.
Imperial Innovations, the commercialisation firm of Imperial College London, backed a £30m ($43m) funding round last week for battery technology producer Nexeon.
Imperial Innovations contributed £5m to the latest round, increasing its total investment in the spinout to £27.4m. The firm now holds 33.7% of Nexeon.
Inveso Asset Management and Woodford Investment Management also participated in the round. Woodford’s decision to join the company’s shareholders follows the appointment of Scott Brown, chief executive of Nexeon, to the board of its spinout-focused fund Woodford Patient Capital Trust.
Founded in 2006, Nexeon is working on batteries that are lighter, have higher capacity and can be recharged more often without degrading compared with other products. The technology relies on silicon rather than the graphite used in other batteries.
The technology is based on research conducted by Prof Mino Green in the department of electrical engineering, who began proof-of-concept activities in 2004.
Battery test cells developed by the company
Nexeon has disclosed £84.75m in funding to date, beginning with a £500,000 seed round in 2006 provided by Imperial Innovations and Paul Atherton, who has been executive chairman since.
The company selected Rob Neat, former managing director of AEA Technology Batteries, in 2006. He led Nexeon through a £4.25m series A round in 2007 and moved the spinout to the former R&D facilities of AEA near Oxford. Imperial contributed £1.95m to that round, while the remaining cash came from PUK Ventures, Tudor Group and Atherton.
Going from strength to strength, Nexeon, however, suffered a setback in March 2008 when Neat died suddenly. The company remained without a chief executive for a year and a half until it appointed Brown in June 2009.
As a testament to the impressive technology the company is working on, Nexeon nevertheless attracted £10m in series B capital in February 2009. Imperial injected £4m in that round, at that point one the largest single investments the firm had made since its initial public offering. Invesco and PUK also took part in the series B round.
Imperial then led a £40m series C round in 2011, investing £15m. Invesco also returned for that round.
Wacker, an active chemicals company, supplied an undisclosed amount of funding in 2013 as part of a strategic partnership. That collaboration agreement followed similar deals with an unnamed consumer electronics maker in 2012 and an undisclosed automotive original equipment manufacturer in 2011.
Russ Cummings, chief executive of Imperial Innovations, said: “Nexeon is one of the pioneers of silicon anodes for lithium ion batteries and has made progress on a number of fronts including fundamental material design.
“While market adoption has been slower than originally anticipated, there are now indications that the pace is accelerating. Nexeon has sold material for niche applications and is actively sampling to lead customers in other application areas.”
Cummings previously spoke to Global University Venturing about Imperial Innovations and its commitment to Nexeon in our profile here.
