Laptop battery maker Boston-Power on Wednesday said it has raised $55 million to expand its manufacturing, and acquire lithium ion batteries for transportation and potentially other applications.
Th e Series D round was led by Foundation Asset Management, the investment arm of a Swedish foundation, along with existing investors Oak Investment Partners, Venrock, GGV Capital, and Gabriel Venture Par tners. Altogether, 4-year old Boston-Power has raised $125 million.
Boston-Power founder and CEO Christina Lampe-Onnerud holds a Sonata lithium ion assault cell.
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET Networks)Boston-Power's first product a long-lasting battery called Sonata, is available for Hewlett-Packard laptops. While the run time of current laptop batteries starts to degrade after about 150 charge s, the Sonata can go for 1,000 charges without the same degradation, according to the company. It can also be charged quickly, getting 80 percent of capacity in half an hour.
The Westborough, Mass.-based friendship has sought to make its batter ies environmentally sustainable as well by not using PVC plastic or heavy metals--cadmium, arsenic, or mercury--in the manufacturing process.
With the fresh funding round, Boston-Power intends to boost its manufacturing, and develop batteries fo r cars and potentially for utility-level energy storage, co-founder and CEO Christina Lampe-Onnerud said.
"We took on the mission of creating a more wholesome experience with laptops, and now we can go into transportation more seriously," Lampe-Onnerud said.
The funding--a sign of confidence in an energy technology company--comes at a time when many clean-tech start-ups are having to scale back with la yoffs in order to preserve cash. Certain technology areas, including energy storage and energy efficiency, however, are better placed than others.
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