England’s Advanced Electric Machines raises €26.3M to build sustainable electric motor without rare earth metals

England-based Advanced Electric Machines (AEM), a company that designs and manufactures next-gen sustainable electric motors and powertrain systems, announced that it has secured £23M (approximately €26.3M) in a Series A round of funding.

The funding round was led by Legal & General Capital and Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital, with significant additional investment from Par Equity. 

Other investors, including Northstar Ventures, the Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2, and Turquoise Capital LLP, participated in the round. 

Advanced Electric Machines plans to use the funds to:

• Scale up production capacity at its manufacturing facility in the North East, creating 40 new skilled green jobs in the next two years.
• Establish a global sales and service footprint, accelerating the rollout of its innovative motor solutions. 
• Accelerate the development of its SSRD motor for the passenger vehicle segment. It has been developed with Innovate UK, the Advanced Propulsion Centre, and leading academic and automotive partners, including Bentley Motors.
• Bolster R&D capabilities to bring its copper-free motor to production, further improving recyclability. 

Prof. James Widmer, CEO and co-founder of Advanced Electric Machines says, “Today’s funding announcement clears our path to sustainable growth for years to come. It is a vote of confidence from the market in our vision, technical capabilities, and mission to rid EV motors of harmful and problematic materials. Everyone at AEM and our new partners are excited for the role we can now play in making the electric vehicle sector truly sustainable.”

Advanced Electric Machines: Building sustainable electric motors

Advanced Electric Machines was founded in 2017 when it was spun out from Newcastle University’s electric motor research team, led by AEM’s CEO, Dr James Widmer, and CTO, Dr Andy Steven.

Advanced Electric Machines designs and manufactures next-generation sustainable electric motors and powertrain systems that eliminate rare-earth magnets and copper windings while offering performance and efficiency that rivals that of permanent magnet motors.

According to the company, eliminating rare earth permanent magnets reduces costs and reliance on geographically concentrated supply chains while improving recyclability and the environmental footprint of the motor.

Advanced Electric Machines’s advanced technology will enable leading passenger and commercial electric vehicle manufacturers to reduce their environmental impact and dependence on critical supply chains, without compromising on quality and performance. 

The investor

Legal & General Capital (LGC) is Legal & General Group’s alternative asset platform, creating assets for Legal & General Retirement and third-party clients to achieve improved risk-adjusted returns for our shareholders. 

LGC has built its capabilities in a range of alternative sectors, including residential property, specialist commercial real estate, clean energy; alternative credit, and venture capital, which are all supported by long-term structural growth drivers, meet a financing gap, and respond to a scarcity of supply that is underpinned by enduring societal needs.

John Bromley, Managing Director – Clean Energy Strategy & Investments at Legal and General Capital, says, “Legal & General Capital invests in innovative businesses with the potential to accelerate progress to a low-carbon economy. AEM’s technology provides a sustainable, market-leading solution that eliminates the need for rare earth materials, reducing emissions and supply chain risk. The UK has a long and successful history in cutting-edge automotive technologies, and by co-leading this investment, we are supporting AEM to fulfil its potential to create skilled jobs and generate global export revenues.”

Par Equity is a venture capital firm based in Edinburgh that invests in innovative technology companies with high growth potential in the North of the UK. 

Since its inception, Par Equity has invested over £160M (approximately €183M) across 77 companies, leveraging a further £268M (approximately €307M) of capital from third-party investors. 

Andrew Noble, Partner at Par Equity, says, “AEM has designed and built an electric powertrain motor which is greener, faster, and more efficient than the incumbent solutions, resulting in significant market pull and potential for growth. It has all the ingredients of the type of business, Par Equity likes to back, and we’re excited to partner with AEM at this critical stage as the company scales its team and capabilities to service a large and rapidly growing EV market.”

Barclays will invest £500M (approximately €573M) of its own capital, led by the Principal Investments team in fast-growing, innovative, environmentally-focused companies whose values are aligned with those of Barclays and which target the goals and timelines of the Paris Agreement.

Steven Poulter, Head of Principal Structuring and Investments, Barclays, says, ” AEM is solving a fundamental constraint of the EV market – the reliance on rare earth metals for motors – which causes significant cost and supply chain challenges. By producing motors that don’t rely on these metals, AEM is able to remove the key barriers to the production and subsequent adoption of EVs. We are excited to be supporting AEM on the next stage of its journey as it expands into passenger vehicles, a growing market critical to the energy transition.”