Offgrid Energy Labs, which was started at IIT Kanpur, is another entrepreneurial venture. To this end, it has recently raised $15 million in Series A funding to grow its operations and build out its proprietary zinc-bromine-based battery technology. Archean Chemicals, which is based in Ahmedabad, India, led the funding round and now owns 21% of the company. Including this investment, that gives the company a post-money valuation of about $58 million. This capital infusion will allow Offgrid Energy Labs to expand production of its cutting-edge energy storage technology. With these solutions, we are looking to make us less reliant on lithium-ion solutions.
Founded in 2018 by Tejas Kusurkar, Brindan Tulachan, Rishi Srivastava, and Ankur Agarwal, Offgrid Energy Labs has spent the past seven years focusing on creating sustainable and efficient energy storage systems. The company’s flagship product, ZincGel, is unique in its use of zinc-bromine chemistry. As such, it offers significant advantages over traditional lithium-ion batteries in a few key categories.
ZincGel is equally effective under extreme conditions. This new translucent element generates a shading effect thanks to a combined use of innovative pilgrim forms. This strength is what makes it an ideal application for many uses, especially in areas with harsh climates. What the ZincGel batteries particularly shine at are longer discharge times. They may run from six to twelve hours, allowing them to be used to serve a variety of energy needs over longer durations. Perhaps most notably, these batteries have an incredible lifespan. They’re reusable and recyclable, lasting nearly twice as long as traditional lithium-ion batteries.
Offgrid Energy Labs has made a name for itself as an innovator in the growing battery technology landscape. The company has already locked down more than 25 families of IP. It features over 50 separate IP assets in designated markets such as U.S., UK, India, China, Australia and Japan. This large portfolio not only secures a sharper competitive edge for the country but serves as a testament to the country’s commitment to robust R&D.
That recent funding will be used to develop a 10-megawatt-hour demonstration facility in the UK. This facility is expected to open in the first quarter of 2026. Each unit within this facility can be considered a small testbed for the ZincGel technology prior to its commercial release. Following the UK launch, Offgrid Energy Labs will begin the long commercialization process for its transformative battery technology. They are doing to deliver on a strong pipeline in the coming quarters.
Offgrid Energy Labs is growing! As another crucial piece of their growth strategy, they’re looking to establish a gigafactory in India to complement their gigafactory that is already under construction in the UK. The UK facility will have a carbon footprint at least 50% lower than the estimated footprint of a traditional lithium battery gigafactory. This expansive reduction stacks up beautifully with all of our global sustainability goals. In addition, the company has adopted less capital- and op-ex intensive manufacturing to reduce such costs. This approach makes it an attractive low-cost option in the growing energy storage sector.
Tejas Kusurkar from the University of Minnesota addressed balancing the need for the market with being financially sustainable. He stated, “Not only should we be addressing a gap in the market from an application standpoint, but we should make it financially viable, because there have been technologies and batteries in the past globally, which have the solution, but they’re so expensive that they’re not widely adopted.”
The latter point was reiterated by Rishi Srivastava, who said customer expectations are the leading precursors of innovation. “Ultimately, customers care about the same performance, better price, or better performance, same price,” he noted.
Offgrid Energy Labs has high hopes for India as one of its primary markets once commercial production starts. The new transformational, high-performance startup is called Aionics. It will move people in a way that has less environmental impact with better options that are more convenient, affordable, and equitable.
