VFlowTech, the Singapore-based provider of vanadium-based redox flow batteries, has raised US$10 million in a Series A funding round. Led by Japan-based venture capital (VC) firm Real Tech Holdings, the oversubscribed round was participated in by returning investors ranging from corporate investors including SEEDS Capital, Wavemaker Partners and Sing Fuels to personal investors like Michael Gryseels (Chairman of VFlowTech), as well as new international VC and strategic investors including İnci Holding (Türkiye), Pappas Capital (US) and Carbon Zero Venture Capital (Singapore).
VFlowTech will use the funds to set-up a 200MWh production line capacity and scale up the manufacturing of its 250 kWh modular vanadium-based long duration energy storage solutions. It will also use the funds to expand its market presence to Türkiye, the US, Japan and India with new partners. The company also plans to intensify research and development efforts to further improve its best-in-class technology, as well as increase system capacity and explore new markets with emerging demand for sustainable energy storage solutions.
To date, VFlowTech has commercially deployed 30 kWh and 100 kWh units for residential applications and has completed the production of its MWh system for large-scale microgrid applications. VFlowTech has a team of 60 people and is looking to use the funds to strengthen the management team in the next year. The company is also in the midst of establishing a US-based identity, from which it will use to steer several projects in the country.
“Advancements in renewable energy storage solutions will drive the acceleration of cleantech and help other industries come one step closer to meeting their sustainability goals. We are already seeing increased demand for our batteries in creating infrastructure for electric vehicle (EV) charging, peak shifting of renewables, grid services, gated communities, telecom towers, and for round-the-clock renewable energy integration. We are excited to bring our offerings into new and emerging markets where there is ample opportunity to help kickstart the energy transition,” said Dr Avishek Kumar, Co-founder and CEO of VFlowTech.
Conventional energy storage technologies such as lithium-ion and lead acid batteries have limited functionality, are not environmentally-friendly and experience performance degradation over time. Meanwhile, standard vanadium redox flow batteries are costly, experience high parasitic losses, have poor round trip efficiency and are difficult to operate in tropical conditions. With its unique IPs and combined decades’ worth of experience in renewable energy, VFlowTech aims to overcome these longstanding vulnerabilities through its modular vanadium redox flow-based energy storage solutions.
“We are excited to support VFlowTech in its mission to produce renewable energy storage solutions that are not only advanced and efficient, but also sustainable and accessible. This is a nascent but highly important industry that will lay the foundation for a greener future. We believe that VFlowTech has the potential to become a changemaker in this space, particularly with their expertise and unique IP,” said Louis Christian Murayama, Director, Real Tech Holdings Singapore.
VFlowTech’s vanadium redox flow batteries – called PowerCubes – feature a unique power stack design that enables a more compact design, a round-trip efficiency higher than the industry standard, reduced parasitic losses and effective operation in temperatures of over 55°C. This makes them one of the most economical and versatile renewable energy storage solutions in the market. Different PowerCubes can be deployed anywhere from residential settings to solar and wind farms.
Additionally, VFlowTech’s own smart energy management system enables the seamless management of dynamic energy supply and load demand, as well as efficiently stabilizing the energy grid infrastructure. The intelligent solution features optimal charging profiles, smart pump and stack management as well as smart charging and discharging – making it future-ready to manage modern energy needs such as EV charging and hourly electricity tariffs.
“The global energy crisis of 2022 – of which we are still feeling the effects today – illuminated the technological and system-level innovations needed to sustainably meet energy demand. Efficient energy storage solutions will be critical to realize the full potential of renewable energy as a mainstream resource. We expect that markets around the world, from advanced ones such as the US to emerging markets like Asia, as well as the global life sciences industry where we typically invest, will be able to reap outsized benefits from the effective implementation of technologies like VFlowTech’s batteries. We look forward to supporting VFlowTech’s future growth in the US and beyond,” said Elizabeth Kelly, Principal, Pappas Capital.
In conjunction with its planned expansion into the US, VFlowTech’s market-leading renewable energy storage solutions have already been deployed to meet energy needs in various parts of the world through joint partnerships in Africa and Southeast Asia, with two batteries set to be deployed in Singapore’s Pulau Ubin this year. The company is also researching the expansion of flow batteries for terminal usage and running a two-year trial to explore scaling flow batteries using storage tank infrastructure.
