OUR PORTFOLIO OF COMPANIES
Volta manages a portfolio of technology investments across technology categories and maturity stages to balance risk and maximize impact.
6K is accelerating the industrial transformation of advanced material production with sustainable manufacturing through its UniMelt®system, the world’s first industrial microwave plasma platform. 6K’s mission is to deliver high-performance advanced materials that are radically greener than legacy production technologies. Currently tackling materials for energy storage and additive manufacturing, the UniMelt platform offers multifaceted sustainability benefits and answers critical environmental challenges such as CO2, hazardous waste, greenhouse gases, energy consumption and wastewater.
Visit WebsiteCaporus’ patented capacitor technologies enable reliable capacitive energy storage and filtering at the higher voltages and temperatures required by the next generation of high density power conversion systems. Caporus dielectrics employ Nanoscale Lamellar Porosity (NLP) to meet the increasingly demanding requirements for power conversion systems that are key to supporting the electrification of transportation and integration of distributed energy resources on the grid. Caporus is expanding its operations beyond facilities at Argonne National Laboratory to add a pilot plant in the southwest suburbs of Chicago that will support scaling production of its dielectrics and capacitor products.
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Conamix is commercializing new low-cost high-energy materials for the global lithium ion battery market. The company’s materials are designed to drop-in to existing manufacturing infrastructure to both improve the energy density and lower the cost of lithium ion systems. Founded in 2014, the company is led by an experienced team of chemical and battery industry leaders and has intellectual property agreements with multiple leading global research institutions.
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XNO® materials are based on proprietary mixed Niobium oxide compositions and microparticle designs protected by 13 international patent families and are now being scaled-up to the multi-thousand tonne/year production scale. The differentiated technology helps cell manufacturers gain a technical and commercial advantage in high-value, fast-growing markets where end-users require the safety, low total cost of ownership, and unique performance mix offered by XNO®.
This includes industrial and commercial e-mobility markets: rail, marine, AGVs, mining trucks and other off-highway vehicles, opportunity-charging e-buses and other high-utilisation EV fleets. XNO® also provides a unique value proposition for the micro-battery market and specific applications for the ESS, motorsports, and medical markets.
Energy Vault creates renewable energy storage solutions designed to advance the global transition to a carbon free, resilient power grid and transform the world’s approach to utility scale energy storage. At Energy Vault, we work to combat climate change by enabling clean and reliable electricity through innovation in renewable energy storage. Utilizing a unique approach to the circular economy that integrates energy waste for beneficial reuse at unprecedented economics, Energy Vault innovates to accelerate the shift to a fully renewable world.
Ionic Materials is a materials technology company that enables next-generation solid-state batteries. Its breakthrough polymer is the first solid electrolyte to fully function at room temperature and be compatible with lithium and alkaline-based batteries, and enable new and advanced electrode chemistries to significantly improve battery safety, performance and cost. Developed by a world-class team of polymer scientists, Ionic Materials is headquartered in Woburn, MA.
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Iontra Inc, a Denver-based battery performance and safety technology company, has been in stealth mode for nearly a decade and is partnered with various OEMs to commercialize its breakthrough charging technology that will replace incumbent CC/CV charging and drastically reduce the development time of new batteries and battery-powered products. Iontra has found a fundamental way to materially reduce degradation in lithium batteries when charging or discharging, opening the door to more than two-fold improvements in charging speed and cycle life, improved capacity utilization, and safe cold-temperature charging.
Visit WebsiteLiminal is accelerating the transition to electric mobility by transforming battery manufacturing with better data and analytics. Their battery manufacturing intelligence solutions leverage ultrasound and machine learning technology to improve battery cost, quality, and reliability.
Visit WebsiteNanoGraf is an advanced battery material company whose patented silicon-anode technology enables longer-lasting, higher-energy, and higher-power lithium-ion batteries. NanoGraf works with over 50 companies, including some of the world’s leading consumer electronics, household appliance, and power tool brands, and over 12 strategic partners in electric mobility (from startups to Fortune 100s). NanoGraf is a spinout of Northwestern University and Argonne National Laboratory. For more information, visit www.nanograf.com.
Visit WebsiteNanoscale Components has developed a novel, cost-effective process to pre-lithiate lithium-ion battery electrodes. This process enables cell manufacturers to use high-specific capacity materials such as silicon to make cells with higher energy density and improve the cycle life of those materials.
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Natron Energy’s mission is to transform industrial and grid energy storage markets by providing customers with lower cost, longer lasting, more efficient, safer batteries. Natron’s battery products are based on a unique Prussian blue chemistry and can integrate into a wide variety of energy storage applications ranging from critical backup power systems to EV fast charging and behind-the-meter applications. Natron’s batteries are UL1973 recognized and have passed rigorous UL9540A fire testing, offer higher power density, faster recharge and significantly longer cycle life than other energy storage technologies. Natron builds its batteries using commodity materials on existing cell manufacturing lines. Natron is backed by leading venture capital investors including ABB Technology Ventures, Chevron, Khosla Ventures, Nano Dimension, Prelude Ventures and Volta Energy Technologies.
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OneD’s SINANODE™ technology platform fuses nano-silicon into commercial graphites – increasing the performance of EV batteries while lowering costs. Silicon nanowires provide 3,250 mA/g of reversible capacity and avoid the expansion and breakage issues of other solutions such as silicon oxide. The result is faster charging, longer range, and affordable EVs.
With over 240 patents, OneD Battery Sciences has joint development agreements with many industry partners including GM, which is also an investor.
Smart Wires develops and implements digital technologies that advance the delivery of affordable, clean electricity on grids around the world. Smart Wires’ technology quickly unlocks gigawatts of new capacity on the existing power grid by intelligently routing power to travel across underutilized power lines.
Solid Power is an industry-leading developer of all solid-state rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles and mobile power markets. Founded in 2012 as a spin-out from the University of Colorado Boulder, Solid Power replaces the flammable liquid electrolyte in a conventional lithium-ion battery with a proprietary sulfide solid electrolyte. As a result, Solid Power’s all solid-state batteries are safer and more stable across a broad temperature range, can provide a 50-100% increase in energy density compared to the best available rechargeable batteries, enable cheaper, more energy-dense battery pack designs and are compatible with traditional lithium-ion manufacturing processes. Solid Power has extensive partnerships with both BMW and Ford to jointly develop all solid-state batteries using the company’s Louisville-based megawatt-hour-scale (MWh) production line. In addition to Volta, Solid Power is backed by prominent investors including Samsung, Hyundai, Ford, and Solvay.
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