Battery storage lures USD 130m of corp funding in Q1 2019

Battery storage companies raised a total of USD 130 million (EUR 116.6m) in corporate funding in the first quarter of 2019, down from USD 299 million a year earlier, a new report says.

The figures were released by Mercom Capital Group LLC in its first-quarter report on funding and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity for the battery storage, smart grid and energy efficiency industries.

Corporate funding for storage, including venture capital (VC), debt and public market financing, was secured in nine deals. The total of USD 130 million represents an increase from the last quarter of 2018 when USD 110 million were raised.

Battery storage companies got USD 78 million in VC funding, including private equity and corporate venture capital, in seven deals, as compared to USD 299 million in 12 deals a year before.

The biggest VC deals were completed by Zenobe, which attracted USD 32 million from Jera and Tokyo Electric Power Co (TYO:9501); Sunfire, which got an investment of USD 29 million; and Ambri, with USD 17 million raised.

Announced debt and public market financing activity for battery storage in January-March grew by 18% sequentially to USD 52 million, thanks to two deals, and was up from zero in the same period of 2018.

Mercom said there were four merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions involving battery storage companies, only one of which with disclosed value.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.897)

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