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Nexeon raises 10 Million pound from Imperial Innovations
By siliconindia
Bangalore: Imperial Innovations, a technology commercialization and investment company, has led a 10 million pound investment round for portfolio company Nexeon. Imperial Innovations itself invested four million pound, one of its largest investments since its IPO, lifting its shareholding to 38.5 percent. Invesco Perpetual and PUK Ventures have invested five million pound and one million pound respectively in this funding round.
The investment in Nexeon, which develops silicon anodes for lithium-ion batteries, follows Imperial Innovations' initial investment of 1.95 million pound in July 2007 as part of a 4.25 million pound fund raising. Nexeon was founded by Prof Mino Green of Imperial College London, and started life within the Imperial Innovations incubator. In the past two years, Nexeon has made significant technical progress in proving the viability of its silicon anode technology in terms of capacity and cycle life. It has expanded its intellectual property portfolio which now includes 12 patent families, with more in preparation.
Nexeon already boasts a fully operational pilot plant, producing sufficient material to make high volumes of cells per day and with a good understanding of the cost model. This latest investment will enable Nexeon to construct a development and pilot-scale manufacturing facility.
Since Innovations' previous investment, Nexeon has appointed a further two Directors. Dr Bill Macklin has joined as Chief Technical Officer. Dr Macklin is an expert in the field of lithium-ion batteries and has published and patented extensively in the lithium-ion battery field. Ian McDonald is now Engineering Director. McDonald has extensive experience of managing the design and build of lithium-ion battery manufacturing facilities.
Dr Paul Atherton is both Chairman of Nexeon and a non-executive director of Imperial Innovations. He holds an interest in 42,926 shares in Nexeon which represents 9.74 percent of the enlarged issued share capital.