£3.2m for low cost battery firm

Faradion, based in Sheffield city centre, has developed a sodium-ion battery which has superior performance to lithium-ion, is safer and is 25 per cent cheaper to make, due to the ready availability of sodium.

The firm has received up to £3.2million in a syndicated funding round from existing shareholders including Finance Yorkshire Seedcorn Fund, industry partner, Haldor Topsoe A/S, and Mercia Technologies.

Mercia is set to invest £1.9million for more than 13 per cent of the business.

Francis Massin, chief executive of Faradion, said: “This new investment by Mercia comes at a particularly crucial stage for us 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.”

Mark Payton, chief executive 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. “