Israel-based specialty materials developer StoreDot secured $18m for its electric vehicle (EV) battery unit yesterday from backers including Samsung Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of electronics producer Samsung.
The round also included Norma Investments, which acts as an investment vehicle for entrepreneur Roman Abramovich, and venture capital fund Singulariteam.
StoreDot develops organic compounds with enhanced chemical, electrical and optical properties that are intended to replace currently used materials. The capital will go to developing and commercialising a newly formed electric vehicle business unit, for which StoreDot will hire staff and build out laboratories.
The EV unit aims to produce a prototype of the first ever instantly-charging car, building a version of its FlashBattery that will recharge an EV in only five minutes.
Doron Myersdorf, StoreDot’s CEO, explained: “This new EV division is a natural extension of our proprietary FlashBattery technology originally developed for the smartphone domain. This funding brings StoreDot closer to fulfil its vision of a care-free fast-charging future.
“Together with our strategic partners, StoreDot will accelerate the process of delivering our FlashBattery technology to the EV market.”
StoreDot has now raised $66m altogether, securing $6m in 2013 from energy security technology developer Nation-E, Genesis Angels and Stef Wertheimer, before closing a $42m series B round in October 2014 featuring another Abramovich investment vehicle, Millhouse.