French lithium-ion batteries startup WATTALPS has raised €11 million in a Series A funding round. New investors, including Supernova Invest, Move Energy, and Ring Capital backed the company. In addition, CASRA Capital and existing investors, EIT InnoEnergy, Eximium, and EIC Fund participated in the round.
This investment follows the investments in battery tech startups Estonia-based UP Catalyst and London-based Gaussion.
How will it use the investment?
With this funding, WATTALPS intends to double its team to 40 people in the coming 18 months. By 2028, the headcount of the company in the French Alps will surpass 100.
It also plans to use the investment to facilitate the move to a bigger factory, contributing to an eightfold increase in its manufacturing capacity in Moirans near Grenoble. This facility currently makes 2,000 batteries per year, ranging from 10 kWh to 500 kWh, with a target to surpass turnover of €100 million in five years.
Additionally, the funding will improve the cost and productivity of the existing modular and high-performance lithium-ion batteries and help the company expand its product range to meet diverse market needs and extend commercial coverage beyond Europe.
Marine Glon, Investment Director at Supernova Invest, said: “We are delighted to announce our investment in WATTALPS, which underscores our firm belief in the company’s significant potential. The remarkable achievements of the team to date align perfectly with our DNA to support visionary entrepreneurs developing breakthrough innovation, such as the patented immersion cooling system and modular approach.“
Mirjam Terhorst, Partner at Move Energy, added: “We are excited about our investment in WATTALPS, given their unparalleled potential to decarbonise heavy-duty vehicles. We look forward to unlocking the market in Northern Europe for their innovative energy solutions, together with the dedicated WATTALPS team.”
Modular solution for clean power
Founded by Manuel Ronco, Matthieu Desbois-Renaudin, and Jean-Noël Carminati, WATTALPS has been designing, assembling, and marketing modular and high-performance lithium-ion batteries for heavy-duty mobile applications since 2018.
With 11 years of R&D in batteries using immersion cooling, the company offers a modular battery system, which is certified according to industrial standard IEC 62619 and automotive functional safety standard ISO 26262. Its robust and compact batteries, from 48V to 800V, have already been validated by companies ranging from large international businesses to SMEs across a wide range of industries, including construction equipment, agriculture, mining, cargo handling, trucks and municipal vehicles, marine, and sportscars.
Improved thermal management has enabled the company to provide batteries that charge faster, deliver higher power, and can work in a wider range of temperatures than comparable models, making them ideal for electrification or hybridisation of heavy-duty and demanding applications.
Matthieu Desbois-Renaudin, CEO and Co-Founder at WATTALPS, said: “Our customers want batteries which are safe and always work as expected in all conditions, including the toughest that might be encountered by their applications. They had often started to work with other batteries and reached the limits of those classical batteries before choosing to work with us. They now want more of our batteries with the same technology, the same high quality, and the same high levels of customer service that are in the DNA of WATTALPS.”
