Form Energy fires up $7.4m round

Form Energy, a US-based energy storage technology spinout from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has raised $7.4m in funding, according to a securities filing.

The document indicates Form Energy began raising the round on February 2 and had secured its targeted amount by February 21, though it has not yet made an official statement.

Founded in 2017 as Baseload Renewables, Form Energy is developing a lithium-sulphur battery that can be used as energy storage to help manage peaks on electricity grids.

The approach is expected to make it easier for renewable energy to supplant fossil fuel-powered facilities as dependable options for generation, a task currently made difficult by wind and solar energy’s unpredictable output due to weather.

Form Energy estimates that the battery can be manufactured at between 10% and 20% of the cost of comparable lithium-ion batteries. Form Energy will reportedly put the cash towards further development.

The spinout has now raised approximately $9.4m, after receiving nearly $2m from MIT’s Engine Fund in 2017, according to a regulatory filing.

­­The Engine Fund is a $200m vehicle launched in association with MIT’s Engine incubator to invest in challenging sectors such as renewables, biotech and aerospace.

Form Energy had emerged from the platform under the tutelage of Yet-Ming Chiang, professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and his former graduate student William Woodford.

They were joined by Marco Ferrara, a research affiliate of MIT who also co-founded solar plant developer Solar Machines, and Ted Wiley, a former president of circular economy think-tank McDonough Innovation.