iPod co-inventor Tony Fadell is putting money into a battery company that says it’s found a way to store energy using silicon scrap waste.
Fadell’s venture capital firm, Future Shape, is among the contributors to Advano’s $18.5 million U.S. Series A funding round. Silicon could be key to building more powerful batteries. The anodes of most existing systems are made with graphite. But silicon can hold far more lithium.
The problem is that silicon anodes tend to swell and crack. That’s set off a race among companies to figure out how to make them work better. Advano says it has a solution.
California-based Advano designed its silicon anodes to be incorporated into existing battery designs. Part of the New Orleans-based company’s strategy is to use silicon scraps left over from semiconductor and solar manufacturing. That enables it to save money and sidestep expensive silicon manufacturing.
The funding will help Advano develop a pilot manufacturing facility and expand its staff by 50%. It also announced a partnership with battery-material supplier Mitsui Kinzoku of Japan. Other investors in the funding round include Mitsui Kinzoku SBI Material Innovation Fund, Thiel Capital and Y Combinator.
