Log 9 Materials raises USD 8.5 mn in funding round led by Amara Raja Batteries

Advanced battery-tech start-up, Log 9 Materials on Monday said it has raised USD 8.5 million (around Rs 63 crore) in a funding round led by Amara Raja Batteries. The company has also entered into an equity partnership and collaboration with Amara Raja Batteries Ltd (ARBL), a leading manufacturer of industrial and automotive batteries, Log 9 Materials said in a statement.

ARBL was the anchor investor in this funding round, making an investment of USD 5 million (Rs 37 crore). Existing investors, including Exfinity Ventures and Sequoia Capital India’s Surge Programme, alongside a clutch of new investors were also a part of the Series A+ funding round, it added “The new investors have, along with the existing investors, invested around USD 8.5 million in the ongoing USD 10-12 million series A+ round,” the company said.

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The fresh funds raised will be utilised to expand production capacity and business development efforts of Log 9’s latest innovation — Rapid Charging Battery technology — which has already completed successful pilots and is due for commercial roll-out in October 2021, it added. The Bengaluru-headquartered start-up said, “ARBL’s investment in Log 9 Materials is a part of the bold ‘Energy & Mobility’ strategy announced by the company in June this year, which focuses on entering into new green technologies and solutions.”

These initiatives will include expansion and investments that will help the ARBL maintain technological and business leadership in the ‘Energy & Mobility’ space, apart from creating new growth avenues, the statement added “The partnership with ARBL will enable us to propel commercialisation at scale of our rapid charging batteries, which in turn shall play a major role in the future in Log 9 eventually becoming the frontrunner and one of the largest Indian players in advanced cell chemistries,” Log 9 Materials Founder & CEO Akshay Singhal said. He further said, “in the upcoming months of 2021, we at Log 9 are looking to take our breakthrough rapid charging battery-tech to end-users at scale.”

On the other hand, Singhal said development and advancements of the company’s aluminium fuel cells will also continue to happen in parallel — including pilots and OEM-level vehicular integrations. While providing an impetus to the research and development work at ongoing projects of Log 9, ARBL is expected to be the primary partner for scaling up the manufacturing operations of Log 9’s battery and fuel cell technologies, the statement said. ARBL Executive Director Vikramadithya Gourineni said the company’s investment in Log 9 Materials is in line with ARBL’s plans to invest in cutting-edge technologies to accelerate its evolution towards becoming an ‘Energy & Mobility’ enterprise.

“This will mark the first in a series of interesting developments that we plan to execute in the future. In this fast-changing technology landscape, we do not believe in a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach and we are convinced that there will be the scope for interplay of multiple technology solutions for various applications,” he added. Log 9 Materials said the ‘strategic angels’ who also participated in the latest round of funding round are — Rajesh Yabaji and Chanakya Hridaya, Co-Founders of logistics industry Unicorn Blackbuck; Rajesh Ramaiah, Partner, Premji Invest; Desikan Sundarajan, MD, Equinor and Faiz Mayalakkara, Director Investments, Emirates Investment Authority and AC Ventures (SEA Frontier Fund LLP).

The funds will also be utilised to advance the start-up’s Supercapacitor and Aluminum Fuel Cell-based innovations. It plans to set up local cell manufacturing for these technologies under the niche category of the ACC (Advanced Chemistry Cell) PLI Scheme in the coming years, the company added. On its continued investment in Log 9 Materials, Exfinity Venture Partners LLP General Partner & CTO Chinnu Senthilkumar said, “In the last 18-24 months, Log 9 Materials has made tremendous progress, both on core technology development and strategic OEM business tie-ups.”

ARBL’s anchor participation in the Series A+ round and strategic partnership further validates Log 9’s cutting-edge technology solutions and its future commercial potential. ARBL’s decades of pioneering experience – New Product launch, leadership in large scale manufacturing, know-how etc. gives a mega boost to Log 9’s vision and long-term strategy, Senthilkumar added.