Clean Tech Startup Log 9 Materials Gets Series-A Funding of $3.5 Mn

Log 9 Materials, a clean-tech start-up, has earned a reputation over the last few years as a pioneering Indian company leading research and commercialization of Graphene nanotech-based products and solutions. Log9 has raised a fresh round of Series-A funding from  Sequoia India's scale-up program Surge and Exfinity Venture Partners. The company had earlier raised seed funding in March 2017, followed by pre-series A funding of around ₹3 Crore in 2018. The latest funding secured by the company amounts to a massive ₹24.22 Crore (approx. $3.5 million).

The newly raised funds will be used by Log 9 for further product development and commercial and industrial deployment of its Aluminium fuel cells—a project in the clean energy domain that the start-up has undertaken since last year. The Aluminum fuel cell technology is being developed by Log 9 for both stationary and automotive applications, wherein the wonder material ‘Graphene’ is being used to make these cells commercially viable as well as economical and sustainable for the domestic and international markets.

Log9 is on a mission to provide 100% clean and circular energy economy solutions for making India energy independent and become an exporter of fuel in a New World Order they call the Aluminum Economy.

Delighted on the recent fundraise, Mr. Akshay Singhal, Founder and CEO, Log 9 Materials says, “This is indeed a momentous occasion in Log 9’s journey; we are extremely grateful to the investors who have put their faith in our scientific capabilities once again, and infused fresh capital into our company. We will be using the amount to propel development and deployment of our flagship project on Aluminium-Air fuel cells, which is currently in the optimization stage. Our endeavour will be to accelerate modifications in the product development cycle so as to create a commercially viable product for both electric vehicles (EV) as well as stationary applications, and we are confident of rolling it out in the market in the next 18-24 months. The ultimate objective is to transition towards an aluminium-based cleaner energy economy that will shift our dependence from crude oil and fossil fuels for energy generation and storage.”

The aluminum-fuel cells—the latest project conceptualized and implemented by Log 9 Materials, has the potential to revolutionize the clean energy, electric mobility and transport sectors in India and across the globe. It is a primary energy generation technology similar to hydrogen fuel cell, but more economical, safer and scalable.

According to Anandamoy Roychowdhary, Director - Technology, Sequoia Capital India LLP, ““Log9 is building the future of energy. Their tech can help us harness aluminium and will result in a 100% recyclable energy future that is safe, free of distribution calamities risk and generates zero waste - and hence fully sustainable. The possible adoption of an aluminium economy that could greatly alleviate the current climate change problems that beset us today, is a future that Log9 is looking to enable"

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This type of fuel cell has already been successfully tested by Log 9 internally in an electric vehicle running on a refueling mechanism (with aluminum and water as the fuel). With further research and optimization, this technology is expected to provide a better, more efficient and sustainable energy solution for EVs of the future, as opposed to conventional lithium based batteries that are dominating the market at present.

Mr.Shailesh Ghorpade, Managing Partner and CIO Exfinity Venture Partners says, “"Most companies approach the battery problems of range anxiety, cost and charging time from a battery management standpoint. Log 9 is different in the sense that they have approached the problem from a material science perspective. Given that the Government also has the ambition to introduce EV as the mainstream mobility solution, Log 9 will accelerate the country’s transition to the EV world. Exfinity has always strived to back entrepreneurs and businesses with innovative ideas that challenge the status quo and Log 9 fits the bill perfectly.".”

Since inception in 2015, Log 9 Materials has attempted to solve myriad practical and real-life challenges with the novel use of Graphene nanotechnology.  While in the initial years the start-up experimented and developed product prototypes in a variety of domains, it has narrowed down to only two sectors in the recent past—filtration and energy. As the EV market continues to evolve globally, batteries with sustainable, more robust energy generating technologies will lead the growth in the times to come, and to this end, Log 9 Materials aims to promote an end-to-end clean circular energy economy using Aluminium as the fuel, via its Alumnium-based fuel cell technology.