Sthyr Energy, the energy storage startup incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M), raised a seed round worth 1 million dollars. Then, it was financed by Speciale Invest with Antares Ventures.
Sthyr Energy is a company founded by IIT-Madras researchers working on a zinc-air battery system that has been designed to be mechanically rechargeable, making it suited to things like seasonal energy storage and fossil-free peak plant replacement.
As per the information provided to the startup, the technology is based on five years of groundwork research done at IIT-Madras by co-founders Gunjan, Akhil and Hamdan, who were determined to fundamentally redesign the architecture of the batteries. Their technology eliminates the shortcomings of traditional energy storage and introduces a technology that tackles three fundamental principles energy storage should have: safety, scalability, and cost-effectiveness.
It employs electrolytes composed of water-based and non-flammable chemicals so that the level of safety is high, and its architecture is decoupled in the energy and power part, so it can be deployed flexibly and modularly in different scales. The solution will be a powerful competitor in long-duration storage with a competitive Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) and hence can be an alternative to lithium-ion-based solutions.
The seed funding will assist Sthyr Energy to expand its research and development (R&D), construct pilot systems and contact grid-scale energy and industrial partners to illustrate the commercial feasibility of its technology.
“Our batteries are designed to provide energy security in a net-zero world, storing solar energy in the summer for use in the winter and delivering reliable power backup for over 100 hours.”
– Gunjan, co-founder and CEO of Sthyr Energy.
“Sthyr’s technology addresses a fundamental bottleneck in clean energy adoption, and their founding team brings the rare combination of technical excellence and mission-driven execution.”
– Vishesh Rajaram, Managing Partner at Speciale Invest.
“Sthyr’s products are fundamentally not reliant on rare earth metals but domestically available metals. Sthyr could be India’s gift to the world for energy storage—a sector that is currently dependent on a single nation, with complex geopolitical priorities, for rare earth elements.”
– Vishnu Rajeev, investment principal and the deal lead for Sthyr at Speciale.
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