Battery Tech Startup Log 9 Raises $8.5 Mn Funding Led By Amara Raja Batteries

Battery tech startup Log 9 announced that it has raised  $8.5 Mn led by an investment of $5 Mn from Amara Raja Batteries during its ongoing Series A funding round.

The round also saw participation from angels such as Blackbuck cofounders  Rajesh Yabaji and Chanakya Hridaya; Premji Invest partner  Rajesh Ramaiah; and Equinor managing director Desikan Sundarajan, among many others. 

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 Logg’s battery and fuel cell technologies.  

Founded in 2015 by Akshay Singhal and Kartik Hajela, Log 9 provides batteries suited for Indian and other developing markets which are utilised in EV batteries, energy storage or fuel cells. Prior to this round, Log 9 has also been funded and backed by  investors like Sequoia, Exfinity Venture Partners and GEMS, among others. 

Amara Raja on the other hand is an energy and mobility enterprise and a manufacturer of energy storage products for both industrial and automotive applications in the Indian battery industry. 

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. Further, these funds will also be utilised to advance the startup’s supercapacitor and aluminum fuel cell based innovations. The startup plans to set up local cell manufacturing for these technologies under the niche category of the ACC PLI Scheme in the coming years. 

ARBL’s investment in Log 9 Materials is a part of the bold ‘Energy and Mobility’ strategy announced by the Company in June this year, which focuses on entering into new green technologies and solutions. 

While the number of participants operating in the energy sector is currently less as compared to the other sectors, it will definitely grow in the future. Some of the key startups in the Indian energy sector are Smart Joules, which recently raised $4.1 Mn in its series A funding round; ReNew Power, which raised $435 Mn through dollar denominated green bonds; and Distributed Energy, which raised INR 10 Cr to launch an online platform that connects startups with renewable energy projects.

Additionally, the growth of the EV sector is also a driving force of the energy tech sector. According to the EV report from Inc42 Plus, Indian EV startups raised $601 Mn between 2014 and 2019. Electric vehicles are projected to have a market share of 70% and 20% in the commercial vehicles and two wheeler segments by 2030.  Additionally, the share of these vehicles in the market is projected to be $20 Bn.

Similar to Log 9, other battery manufacturers in the country include RACEnergy, Cell Propulsion and ION Energy among others. According to JMK Research, the Li-ion battery market in India is expected to increase from 2.9 Gwh in 2018 to about 132 Gwh by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 35.5%. 

This year, Mumbai-based electric vehicle and energy storage startup Gegadyne also raised $5 Mn in a strategic investment from electrical appliances giant V-Guard.