London-based Gaussion, a magneto-electrochemistry company, announced on Monday that it has secured $12M (approximately €11M) in a Series A funding round led by Autotech Ventures and supported by existing investors BGF and UCL Technology Fund.
The funding round was managed by AlbionVC in collaboration with UCL Business.
The UK company will use the funds to advance its battery charging technology, accelerate market entry, and scale the technology.
The announcement comes a couple of years after raising £2.85M (approximately €3.3M) in a seed round led by BGF and UCL Technology Fund (UCLTF) in 2022.
What does Gaussion solve?
The speed of charging is still a major challenge that needs to be addressed for electric vehicles (EVs) to be widely adopted by both passengers and commercial users.
Traditional rapid charging methods are inherently unpredictable and can often cause damage to the cells, posing a safety risk.
Additionally, next-generation technologies like solid-state electrolytes have consistently failed to meet deployment targets.
Here’s where Gaussion comes into play
Gaussion: Innovative battery charging technology.
Founded as a University College London (UCL) spinoff, Gaussion has developed a solution that enhances battery performance using an external magnetic field during charge and discharge cycles to enable rapid charging by steering ions within existing battery cells.
The magnetic field also lowers cell degradation, extending battery life.
According to the company, this approach aims to complement existing battery technologies rather than replace them.
The UK company’s solution can be utiilised in many applications, including transportation electrification, construction equipment, mining operations, residential energy storage, and utility-scale energy storage for load and phase balancing.
“In many applications, we are observing that efforts to rapidly electrify are delayed or blocked due to the cost of raising the ceiling of battery performance,” says Tom Heenan, Gaussion CEO and co-founder.
“Whereas magnetic enhancement could provide step-change improvements across all chemistries, formats, and applications, affordably unlocking electrification without compromising on cost or performance,” adds Heenan.
The investors
Autotech Ventures is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm with more than $500M under management to date and a mission to solve the world’s ground transport challenges with technology.
“Gaussion’s approach aims to expand the solution space by introducing a new variable, rather than displacing or replacing existing technologies,” says Alexei Andreev, co-founder and managing director of Autotech Ventures.
“They leverage the advancements of current battery cell giants and apply an external magnetic field to enhance the performance of established battery technologies without changing their core components. We see tremendous opportunities in a variety of markets,” adds Andreev.
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