Skeleton Technologies raised investment from Japanese Marubeni Corporation
Estonian developer of supercapacitors (electrochemical energy storage devices) Skeleton Technologies raised investment from its own Japanese partner Marubeni Corporation. The amount of the deal is undisclosed.
Skeleton Technologies was founded in Tallinn in 2009 by Taavi Madiberk and Oliver Ahlberg. Supercapacitors or ultracapacitors are energy storage technology that offers high power density, fast charging and discharging, extreme temperature tolerance, and lifetimes of more than 1,000,000 charge-discharge cycles. The company developed carbon nanomaterial Curved Graphene to produce its supercapacitors. It provides them with power and energy density. The company's customers are Siemens, General Electric, Shell, and major automobile and heavy electric machinery manufacturers, mainly in Europe and the United States.
By 2023, it already raised more than €200M. One of its venture investors is Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder of the money transfer service Wise.
Skeleton Technologies will use the investment from Marubeni Corporation in the preparation of the company for the new mass production of SupperBattery, which is a storage battery with long life, high power, fast charge/discharge features, and low environmental impact. The company plans to build a plant for manufacturing these batteries in 2024.
Marubeni Corporation is a Tokio-based company with CEO and president Masumi Kakinoki. The company’s main business areas are energy, factories, mechanical engineering, and transportation. Besides, it makes internal and external investments. Marubeni has already invested in Skeleton Technologies in March 2021, in exchange for nearly 1% of the Estonian company. Marubeni Corporation has been also a strategic partner and official distributor of Skeleton in Japan and other Asian countries since 2021.
UPD: It was a series-E round of investment, divided into two parts. The first investment was from Marubeni Corporation, which injected the company €50M in convertible bonds. In total, Skeleton Technologies plans to raise about €220M of investment.
