Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the Bill Gates–backed $1 billion fund announced in late 2016, has finally made its inaugural investments into a pair of promising energy storage startups.
The details: The fund, established to make long-term investments into the technologies necessary to transition to clean energy, has provided $9 million to Form Energy and joined a $6.4 million funding round for Quidnet Energy, Quartz has reported
Form Energy, created through the recent merger of Verse Energy and Baseload Renewables, is attempting to develop “batteries that are capable of producing reliable grid power from renewable sources around the clock, and cost at least five times less than where lithium-ion batteries are likely to plateau,” as MIT Technology Review previously reported. Specifically, it’s developing aqueous sulfur–based flow batteries, although the researchers are exploring other chemistries for batteries designed for different durations, cofounder Yet-Ming Chiang said in an interview last week.
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