Barclays
Assembly Line
Echion raises a further £10 million to accelerate commercial growth
Echion has secured £10 million investment from Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital and existing investor BGF. This funding will enable Echion to accelerate the speed at which its network of partnered cell manufacturers is able to produce commercially available cells which utilise Echion’s innovative niobium-based XNO® anode material. It will also support Echion’s growth in key markets by providing additional resources to connect cell manufacturers with industrial original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). This will see XNO® utilised in more real-world applications, at volume, in the near future.
Echion’s XNO® niobium-based anode material enables lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries to safely fast charge in less than ten minutes, maintain high energy densities even at extreme temperatures, and deliver high power across a cycle life of more than 10,000 cycles. XNO® has been specifically engineered to allow electrified heavy-duty industrial, commercial and mass-transport vehicles to operate with the highest productivity and lowest total cost of ownership.
XNO® is available at scale thanks to Echion’s manufacturing partnership with the world’s leading producer of niobium, CBMM. In November, Echion opened the world’s largest niobium-based anode production facility, capable of producing 2000 t/year of XNO®, equivalent to 1 GWh of Li-ion cells. This will enable Echion to meet the significant demand for XNO® across its global customer base of cell manufacturers and OEMs.
LuxWall Raises $51 Million Funding to Accelerate Decarbonization of Buildings
LuxWall, a leader in glass-based transparent insulation solutions to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions from buildings, has closed a US $51 million Series B funding round led by Climate Investment and Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital. New investors Carbon Equity and The Nature Conservancy participated in the round alongside existing investors Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Prelude Ventures, 2150, Khosla Ventures, and Baruch Future Ventures.
The recent funding allows LuxWall to scale up production at its newly opened factory in Litchfield, Michigan, which received the support from Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. It will also enable the construction and expansion of a second factory in Detroit, Michigan, as well as the growth of research and development at the R&D Center in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Alongside this Series B funding, LuxWall received a $31.7 million U.S. Department of Energy Manufacturing Efficiency and Supply Chain (MESC) grant to support the Detroit facility.