Puyallup Tribal Enterprises
Assembly Line
Long-duration battery startup lands $5M on journey to one day power data centers and metro areas
Skip Technology raised $5 million to help the grid-scale battery startup begin deploying prototypes for field testing. The Portland, Ore., company is building long-duration batteries that use hydrogen bromine to produce power instead of the more common lithium-ion chemistry. Compared to conventional batteries, Skip Tech devices hold power for a longer time, are much less flammable, and require components that are easy to source domestically, according to the team.
The company’s smaller batteries will be able to power offline operations like a food truck, while a collection of about 10 shipping container-sized batteries could provide enough juice for a large data center, said co-founder and CEO Brennan Gantner. Tech giants such as Amazon and Microsoft are searching for data center energy storage solutions to provide clean power when wind and solar aren’t available.
The new investment round is being led by Puyallup Tribal Enterprises, which also invested in a previous round. Skip Tech and the Washington-based tribal organization are additionally partnering in production of the batteries. Puyallup Tribal Enterprises is building a manufacturing facility south of Seattle to make the devices.
The startup also recently announced a partnership with Continuous Solutions, a fellow Portland company that will provide the electronics needed to convert the DC energy produced by the battery into standard AC voltages comparable to the electricity delivered from wall outlets.