A Houston-based company raised money to further develop its energy storage technology in the rapidly growing electric vehicle charging space.
Revterra Corp., which develops kinetic battery technology, announced raising $6 million in Series A financing July 19. The Series A round was led by Equinor Ventures, the corporate venture arm for Norwegian energy firm Equinor ASA (NYSE: EQNR), and Houston-based private equity and investment firm SCF Partners participated in Revterra's financing round.
Revterra is developing kinetic energy storage products that use flywheels suspended by novel magnetic technology, which the company says significantly amplifies performance. According to Revterra, its kinetic battery technology is lower-cost, more efficient and more environmentally friendly than other energy storage systems, like lithium-ion batteries.
"There is an urgent need to reduce carbon emissions globally. Our goal at Revterra is to deploy scalable energy storage solutions that facilitate the shift to renewables and EVs while hardening our electric grid," said Revterra CEO Ben Jawdat. "Our systems enable these ambitions while utilizing materials that are recyclable and based on a secure supply chain."
Revterra plans to make fast EV charging the beachhead market for its kinetic battery technology. The company's first kinetic battery system, the S100, will be a modular base unit with a 400-kilowatt capacity that can be expanded by installing additional modules. Over time, Revterra aims to develop and deploy larger flywheel systems to support grid-scale energy storage.
With the modular S100 system, Revterra said, owners of EV charging sites could forego expensive and time-consuming infrastructure upgrades to support fast EV charging.
The $6 million in Series A capital will go toward funding product development and commercialization as well as expanding the Revterra team with more electrical, mechanical and manufacturing engineering talent over the next 12 months.
"Revterra's differentiated energy storage systems will be key to enabling fast charging capabilities for EVs and improving the resiliency of the power grid," said SCF Partners Managing Director Hossam Elbadawy. "A successful energy transition needs effective energy storage and innovative technologies like Revterra's flywheel will provide an important part of the answer."
With a larger team and after completing construction on a new Houston facility, Revterra expects to deliver its first commercial-ready kinetic battery units in 2023.
Revterra previously raised nearly $500,000 through angel investments and a Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer grant through the National Science Foundation. The Revterra Corp. team is made up of academic and business talent from the University of Houston, Rice University and investment banking firm Piper Sandler.
