Amaron battery maker Amara Raja invests in Log 9 Materials

On 9^th August 2021, Aluminium Fuel Cells technology developer Log 9 Materials stated that it has raised $ 8.5 million in a funding round led by Amara Raja, the makers of automobile battery Amaron.

Log 9 Materials quoted in a statement that the company has set foot into an equity partnership and collaboration with Amara Raja Batteries Ltd (ARBL), a leading manufacturer of industrial and automotive batteries.

However, ARBL was the prime investor in this funding round, investing $ 5 million.

“Existing investors, including Exfinity Ventures and Sequoia Capital India's Surge Programme, alongside a clutch of new investors, we're also a part of the Series A+ funding round”, Log9 Material added.

"The new investors have, along with the existing investors, invested around $ 8.5 million in the ongoing $10-12 million series A+ round," the company said.

“The fresh funds raised will be utilised to expand production capacity and business development efforts of Log 9''s latest innovation -- Rapid Charging Battery technology -- which has already completed successful pilots and is due for commercial roll-out in October 2021”, it added.

The 5-year-old Bengaluru-headquartered start-up said: "ARBL's investment in Log 9 Materials is a part of the bold 'Energy & Mobility' strategy announced by the company in June this year, which focuses on entering into new green technologies and solutions."

“These initiatives will include expansion and investments that will help the ARBL maintain technological and business leadership in the 'Energy & Mobility' space, apart from creating new growth avenues”, the statement added.

Akshay Singhal, Founder & CEO of Log 9 Materials: "The partnership with ARBL will enable us to propel commercialisation at the scale of our rapid charging batteries, which in turn shall play a major role in the future in Log 9 eventually becoming the frontrunner and one of the largest Indian players in advanced cell chemistries.”

“In the upcoming months of 2021, we at Log 9 are looking to take our breakthrough rapid charging battery-tech to end-users at scale”, he added.

However, Singhal stated that development and advancements of the company's aluminium fuel cells will also pursue to happen to align -- incorporating pilots and OEM-level vehicular integrations.

“While providing an impetus to the research and development work at ongoing projects of Log 9, ARBL is expected to be the primary partner for scaling up the manufacturing operations of Log 9''s battery and fuel cell technologies”, the statement said.

Vikramaditya Gourineni, Executive Director, ARBL, said: The company's investment in Log 9 Materials is in line with ARBL's plans to invest in cutting-edge technologies to accelerate its evolution towards becoming an 'Energy & Mobility' enterprise.”

"This will mark the first in a series of interesting developments that we plan to execute in the future. In this fast-changing technology landscape, we do not believe in a ''one-size-fits-all'' approach and we are convinced that there will be the scope for an interplay of multiple technology solutions for various applications," he added.

“The funds will also be utilised to advance the start-up's Supercapacitor and Aluminum Fuel Cell-based innovations. It plans to set up local cell manufacturing for these technologies under the niche category of the ACC (Advanced Chemistry Cell) PLI Scheme in the coming years”, the company added.

Chinnu Senthil Kumar, Exfinity Venture Partners LLP General Partner & CTO, on its continued investment in Log 9 Materials, said: "In the last 18-24 months, Log 9 Materials has made tremendous progress, both on core technology development and strategic OEM business tie-ups."