ActaCell Raises $5.8M [CleanTech Running Rampant]
You can add ActaCell to the growing list (2 so far!) of highly secretive battery technology companies in Austin. The company announced a $5.8M Series A financing today.
ActaCell is creating some sort of new technology in the Lithium-Ion battery market, and has been in the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI) for several months now. It appears that the company is commercializing some technology created by Professor Arumugam Manthiram’s Material Science and Engineering lab at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Manthiram is known for producing lightweight membrane fuelcells, and he has a research interest in supercapacitors. The former head of the ATI’s CleanTech incubator, Joel Serface, played a key role in getting this technology licensing deal done and seeded with some grant funding. Bill Ott, the former VP of Sales at Active Power, has been the CEO of the company since September of 2007.
Funding for the round was led by DFJ Mercury, which is based in Houston and has also invested in Austin-based companies Phurnace, Illumitex, and Unwired Nation. Also participating were Good Energies (see Good Energies is Good Stuff, 2/27/08), Applied Ventures, and Google.org’s RechargeIT program.
RechargeIT is a Google.org initiative that aims to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, cut oil use and stabilize the electrical grid by accelerating the adoption of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and vehicle-to-grid technology. Google.org demonstrates the technology using its own fleet and supporting others through grants and investments. “When we launched RechargeIT we announced a request for investment proposals, hoping to identify top entrepreneurs finding innovative transportation solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming,” said Gregory Miller, Google.org’s managing director of investments. “Google.org is delighted to include ActaCell among the exciting companies we’re supporting.”
To summarize, we’ve got a leading venture capital company, a Google program that focuses on plug-in hybrid cars, a lithium-ion focus, lightweight membrane technology expertise, and a proven cleantech executive at the helm. Sounds like someone is going to give EEStor a run for their money. There’s obviously something in the lab that is rather impressive. We’re just happy that this is happening in Austin!
Filed under: CleanTech, Funding, Uncategorized
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