LA-Based Nanotech Energy Raises $64 Million to Make Battery Charging Faster and Cheaper

Bernard Mendez
Bernard Mendez is an editorial intern at dot.LA. He attends UCLA, where he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics. Mendez was previously an editor at the Daily Bruin, the student newspaper at UCLA.
LA-Based Nanotech Energy Raises $64 Million to Make Battery Charging Faster and Cheaper
Los Angeles-based Nanotech Energy announced Tuesday it raised $64 million in Series D funding to help the company expand its graphene battery operation. The company has so far raised $94.9 million in total at a $550 million valuation, following a nearly $30 Series C round earlier this year.

Headquartered along Wilshire Avenue, Nanotech Energy produces graphene-based batteries, which promise improved energy-efficiency, cost-effectiveness and charging time for electric vehicles and other consumer electronics. The company's products are based on the work of two UCLA researchers: Richard Kaner, a chemistry professor who has been researching graphene technology since the early 2000s, and Maher El-Kady, a postdoctoral scholar.

Nanotech Energy is one of several companies working on graphene-based technologies. Chicago-based NanoGraf, for example, is working on a process to enable low-cost manufacturing of graphene-based batteries. In the world of consumer electronics, Real Graphene sells a graphene-based power bank that it claims can generate a full phone charge in under 20 minutes. A Nanotech Energy spokesperson declined to comment on revenue figures.

From left: Nanotech Energy co-founder CEO Jack Kavanaugh and UCLA researcher Richard Kaner.

Nanotech Energy's Series D funding will go toward establishing a European headquarters in Amsterdam and to build a graphene battery manufacturing plant in Reno, Nevada, which is expected to be completed by late 2022. The company also plans to make improvements to its plant in Chico, California.

"We've spent more than seven years diligently creating new materials to improve battery storage capacity and safety and are now moving into a new phase of production at industry-level scale," said CEO and co-founder Jack Kavanaugh in a press release announcing the raise.

The Series D round was led by Fubon Financial Holding Co., a Taiwan-based financial services company. The Nanotech Energy spokesperson did not disclose other participants in the round.

"We believe Nanotech Energy's proprietary, non-flammable graphene batteries have a clear path to widespread adoption and global scalability," Fubon Chairman Richard Tsai said in the press release.

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Starships Were Meant To Fly: Astrolab's New Jeep-Sized Rover Gets a Lift from SpaceX

Lon Harris
Lon Harris is a contributor to dot.LA. His work has also appeared on ScreenJunkies, RottenTomatoes and Inside Streaming.
Starships Were Meant To Fly: Astrolab's New Jeep-Sized Rover Gets a Lift from SpaceX
Photo by Samson Amore

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Local Los Angeles-area startup Astrolab Inc. has designed a new lunar vehicle called FLEX, short for Flexible Logistics and Exploration Rover. About the size of a Jeep Wrangler, FLEX is designed to move cargo around the surface of the moon on assignment. It’s a bit larger than NASA’s Mars rovers, like Perseverance, but as it’s designed for transport and mobility rather than precision measurement, it can travel much faster, at speeds of up to 15 miles per hour across the lunar surface.

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Meet the Creator Economy’s Version of LinkedIn

Kristin Snyder

Kristin Snyder is dot.LA's 2022/23 Editorial Fellow. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.

Meet the Creator Economy’s Version of LinkedIn
Creatorland

This is the web version of dot.LA’s daily newsletter. Sign up to get the latest news on Southern California’s tech, startup and venture capital scene.

LinkedIn hasn’t caught on with Gen Z—in fact, 96% rarely use their existing account.

Considering 25% of young people want to be full-time content creators and most influencers aren’t active on LinkedIn, traditional networking sites aren’t likely to meet these needs.

Enter CreatorLand.

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This Week in ‘Raises’: Total Network Services Gains $9M, Autio Secures $5.9M

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

This Week in ‘Raises’: Total Network Services Gains $9M, Autio Secures $5.9M
This Week in ‘Raises’:

It has been a slow week in funding, but a local decentralized computing network managed to land $9 million to accelerate deployment of its new product called Universal Communication Identifier (UCID™). Another local company that secured capital included Kevin Costner’s location-based audio storytelling platform and the funding will go toward expanding the app’s content library and expanding into additional regions in the United States.

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