Sodium-ion battery producer Natron, a Stanford spinout, has picked up corporates ABB and Chevron in a round bringing its lifetime funding to more than $70m.
Natron Energy, a US-based advanced battery technology spinout of Stanford University, raised $35m yesterday in a series D round co-led by ABB Technology Ventures, the strategic investment arm of power and automation technology producer ABB.
Corporate-backed battery technology fund Volta Energy Technologies and venture capital firm NanoDimension Capital co-led the round, which also included oil producer Chevron and VC firms Khosla Ventures and Prelude Ventures.
Founded in 2012 and formerly known as Alveo Energy, Natron Energy develops battery storage that depends on sodium-ion technology to carry charge as an alternative to traditional lithium or lead-based materials.
Natron focuses on batteries for infrastructure such as telecoms, industrial and data centres where sodium-ion is potentially safer because it is less prone to thermal explosions.
Sodium-ion is also a cheaper raw material than lithium, for which higher demand exists to make battery-powered devices such as consumer electronics.
The series D proceeds will go to accelerating Natron’s manufacturing plans through 2021, with the batteries to be produced from existing plants.
Natron has now raised more than $70m in funding, it said. Regulatory filings state it received $15.1m over three rounds between 2013 and 2017, from investors including Prelude, NanoDimension, Fluxus Ventures and Khosla Ventures.
Chevron Technology Ventures, the corporate’s strategic investment unit, supplied an undisclosed sum in January 2019 under a business partnership deal, before another filing from November 2019 states Natron raised $13.7m in equity from undisclosed investors.
Thomas Vogel, vice-president of ABB Technology Ventures, said: “Natron Energy is a great addition to the ABB Technology Ventures investment portfolio and for ABB’s business lines.
“Its technology helps enable safe, smart and sustainable electrification, and we believe the company is well-positioned for growth within the already enormous data centre infrastructure market.”
