Iontra Inc, the Denver-based battery performance and safety technology company, has secured $38M in a Series B round led by Volta Energy Technologies, with participation from Flag Group and other investors.
The funding will help Iontra to develop further and commercialise its Power Control Technology which increases charge speeds and lifetimes of existing battery products by over 2X.
Battery innovation
Founded by Jeff Granato and Daniel Konopka in 2013, Iontra Inc is a battery innovation company that dramatically improves the charge speed, lifetime cycles, capacity utilisation, and safety of all Lithium batteries.
“We have found a fundamental way to reduce degradation in lithium batteries when charging or to discharge materially. This opens the door for dramatically better performance from existing battery cells representing a range of chemistries, materials, designs, and manufacturing processes,” says Daniel Konopka, Chief Science Officer. “Our technology results in more than two-fold improvements to safe charging speeds and cycle life, improved capacity utilization, and safe cold-temperature charging. This provides valuable opportunities to reduce costs while improving batteries’ basic capabilities and lifetime.”
The company has its offices, R&D labs, and cycler fleets across multiple facilities in Denver, Colorado.
Iontra has been in stealth mode for nearly a decade and is partnered with various top-tier OEMs to commercialise its breakthrough technology that will replace incumbent CC/CV charging and significantly reduce the development time of new battery-powered battery products.
The company expects to have its battery technology in commercial products by 2024, with a steep adoption ramp across multiple market segments.
“After nearly ten years of hard work from our team of scientists, engineers, and technicians; two million hours of battery cycling; and multiple 3rd-party validation reports, Iontra’s technology is ready for use in commercial battery design, deployment, and operation,” says Jeff Granato, the company’s CEO.
Iontra will initially commercialise its product for power tools, smartphones, and drones and expects to quickly develop its product for larger-scale battery systems found in EVs, DC fast chargers, grid storage, and other industrial applications.
“Iontra values Volta’s strategic focus on emerging technologies and markets for batteries. We believe Volta is a great partner to help accelerate the commercialization of Iontra’s technology,” said Granato.
Volta CTO Dave Schroeder, who will serve as the company’s board director, says, “Iontra has developed a novel and distinctly capable tool for battery OEMs and technology developers to improve the design, cost, and value of their products. As Volta continues to manage and grow our portfolio and industry relationships, we expect many opportunities to leverage Iontra’s technology, accelerating its commercialization and the improvement of battery products across a wide range of products and use cases.”
Invests in battery and energy technologies
Volta Energy Technologies identifies and invests in battery and related energy technologies. Serving both financial and strategic corporate investors, Volta provides capital to hard technology innovators and connects them with other industry players developing, manufacturing, and adopting advanced energy technologies, supporting the energy transition toward electrification and decarbonisation.
Zander Arkin, Chief Investment Officer at Volta, adds, “Volta develops and manages its investments across several key links in the energy technology value chain from basic materials to product design and manufacturing scale up. Iontra’s technology adds advanced software and power controls to our portfolio, providing us new and valuable opportunities to support product development and commercialization partnerships between Iontra and other industry participants within the Volta portfolio and the broader industry in which we work.”
Some key benefits of Iontra technology:
– doubles cycle life of existing batteries.
– doubles charge speed of existing batteries.
– enables cold-weather charging: this is key for power tools, EVs, and agricultural drones.
– reduces manufacturing expenses and waste from Lithium-ion batteries by enabling longer life before recycling.
– works with all commercial Lithium batteries and is under test with solid-state batteries.
– will enable EVs to be charged in <15mins.
– enables eBike and eScooters to last 6-12 months longer.
– enables smartphones to charge 100% in <10 minutes.
– enables quick recharging of drones.
– will allow small and large energy storage projects to be lower cost and more attractive.
