03-Dec-2008

ACAL Energy Raises £3.3m in Venture Financing

Innovative technology enables low cost, highly reliable PEM fuel cells

ACAL Energy Ltd. has today announced the successful completion of a £3.3M fundraising round. Led by CT Investment Partners LLP, all existing venture capital investors, Rising Stars Growth Fund (RSGF), NorthStar Equity Investors Ltd, Porton Capital Ltd and Synergis Technologies Ltd, invested in the round and are joined by new investments from Solvay SA and a leading Japanese corporation.

The funds will be used to take the company to the next stage of development of their ground breaking low cost fuel cell systems, based on its novel platinum-free cathode technology (FlowCath®).

Fuel cells are a highly efficient and clean energy production technology capable of replacing combustion engines in a wide variety of applications including remote and distributed power, residential cogeneration as well as automotive and mobile power applications. FlowCath® replaces expensive precious metal catalyst found in conventional fuel cells with a proprietary low cost liquid catalyst. This not only reduces the cost of the fuel cell but also provides significant durability and reliability benefits through system simplification and the elimination of the most common failure mechanisms found in standard fuel cells. The company plans to introduce a 1KW demonstration system in 2009.

Chief Executive Officer, Dr SB Cha said, “We are very fortunate in this difficult investment climate to have the backing of knowledgeable and experienced investors such as Carbon Trust Investments and Solvay. FlowCath® will enable fuel cells to capture a significant share of the new energy production mosaic alongside solar, wind and other forms of clean energy generation. Our world-class development capabilities and partnerships with leading companies in Europe and Asia will enable us to deliver this technology to the market in the very near future.”

Jean-Michel Mesland, Solvay's General Manager Research & Technology and Member of the Executive Committee said. “This investment in an innovative company allows us to take part in a technological breakthrough, which will make fuel cells more cost-efficient. As leader in innovative polymer membrane technology for fuel cells, we are committed to give strong support to the development of such devices which are needed to achieve sustainable development,"

“We backed the ACAL Energy technology proposition from an early stage and have been impressed by what we believe is a highly innovative and effective solution to two key barriers facing the fuel cell sector: cost and reliability.” said Jonathan Bryers, Partner at CT Investment Partners.

Julian Viggars, Head of Technology Investment at EV, fund manger of RSGF, said, “The RisingStars Growth Fund was the initial seed investor, making its first investment when ACAL Energy was simply a very credible scientific founder with a great idea and has continued to support the company through each subsequent stage of its development. This latest round is both a vindication of the great commercial and technical progress made by the company but also of the RSGF model”.

Gerry White, Head of the Co-Investment Fund at NorthStar Equity Investors said: “We have invested in ACAL Energy’s fuel cell technology at an early stage as we believe it has huge potential to dramatically change the face of sustainable energy across the globe. We’re delighted to be involved with this pioneering high growth technology and look forward to nurturing the business through the next phase of its growth.”