The California company has closed a $550m Series C to expand manufacturing of its carbon-block thermal batteries, targeting heavy industry and data centres, two of the hardest loads in the economy to decarbonise.
Antora Energy has raised $550m in a Series C funding round, with the proceeds going towards expanding production of its thermal battery technology and speeding up large-scale deployment across the United States.
Founded in 2017 and based in California, Antora makes thermal batteries that turn cheap, intermittent renewable electricity into steady industrial energy. The system uses that electricity to heat blocks of solid carbon to glowing temperatures inside an insulated module. It then delivers the stored heat at industrial scale and temperature, or converts it back to electricity at high efficiency using the company’s thermophotovoltaic technology.
What the technology has already delivered
The financing follows one of the largest battery storage deployments in the world, a 5GWh system in South Dakota that went from initial construction to delivering energy in under 12 months. Antora says it now has a growing pipeline of signed agreements with hyperscalers and industrial customers.
The new capital will fund large-scale project deployment across the country, expand production capacity, establish a second US manufacturing hub and strengthen the company’s domestic supply chain.
The bottleneck the money is chasing
Industrial heat and data centre power sit awkwardly with renewables, because both want energy on demand while wind and solar arrive when the weather allows. Thermal storage bridges that gap by taking cheap electricity when it’s abundant and releasing it as heat or power when it’s needed. So the appeal to industrial buyers is as much about cost as emissions.
Andrew Ponec, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Antora, said: “From factories to data centers, energy is the bottleneck to industrial growth. Antora has shown we can help break that bottleneck, delivering energy fast, at massive scale, with American innovation. With this funding round, we’re continuing to strengthen our investment in U.S. manufacturing, delivering affordable energy across the country and around the world.”
Who backed the round
G2 Venture Partners and Eclipse co-led the round. New investors include Ribbit Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Activate Capital, John Doerr, Westly Group, StepStone Group and Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures. Existing backers Decarbonization Partners, Impact Science Ventures, Trust Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Lowercarbon Capital also took part.
Jake Tauscher, Partner at G2 Venture Partners, said: “Our energy system is at an inflection point, and very few companies can meet soaring power demand. Antora is meeting that demand today. They’re deploying at scale, on budget, and on the rapid timelines customers need. That’s how generational energy companies are built, and it’s why we’re proud to co-lead this round.”
The mix of climate specialists and generalist crossover funds is worth noting. Storage rounds of this size were, until recently, the preserve of dedicated climate vehicles. Data centre demand has changed who’s writing the cheques.
