Sheffield-based Faradion raises £1.3m from Mercia Technologies

Faradion, a low-cost battery material developer, has raised £1.3m from high growth technology investment firm Mercia Technologies.

The investment is part of a syndicated round of up to £3.2m alongside existing shareholders, including Finance Yorkshire Seedcorn Fund and Haldor Topsoe A/D.

Warwickshire-based Mercia Technologies acquired Enterprise Ventures back in March 2016, and has recognised Faradion as an ’emerging star’ from Enterprise Ventures’ managed funds portfolio. This makes the Sheffield-based startup the third emerging star to have come from the portfolio.

Francis Massin, CEO of Faradion, commented: “This new investment by Mercia comes at a particularly crucial stage for Faradion as we look to move from the laboratory to large scale prototype production.

“The benefits of sodium-ion battery technology have already been established in a laboratory setting; however this financial support will allow us to demonstrate that the technology can be manufactured at scale. We look forward to developing our new partnership with Mercia, which has shown great confidence in our technology.”

The initial £1.3m Mercia Technologies has invested in Faradion represents an equity holding of 13.6%. A second amount of £600,000 will be invested within the next 18 months providing that Faradion meets specific performance-related milestones.

Faradion plans to use the initial investment to commercialise its low-cost sodium-ion battery technology, which the firms claims is approximately 25% cheaper to manufacture than existing alternatives.

Mark Payton, CEO of Mercia Technologies, said: “We are delighted to make our first direct investment into Faradion, adding another exciting technology company to Mercia’s portfolio of emerging stars. Faradion is the third company to have been sourced by the excellent team at Enterprise Ventures and added to the group’s direct investment portfolio, once again demonstrating the potential of disruptive technology businesses sourced from the UK regions.

“It is another example of Mercia supporting truly innovative UK businesses, from early development through our managed funds, followed by the deployment of direct capital to scale the commercial potential of the investee company,” he added.

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