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UCL spinout secures £9.4m to revolutionise EV battery charging

22 August 2024

Gaussion, a UCL spinout that has developed new technology to allow ultrafast and safe battery charging, has won £9.4 million funding.

Gaussion founders in lab

Founded by Dr Thomas Heenan (UCL Chemical Engineering) and Dr Chun Tan (լƵ Mechanical Engineering) at the UCL Electrochemical Innovation Lab (EIL) in 2017, Gaussion has developed a novel solution that radically enhances the battery performance of electric vehicles.

The technology uses an external magnetic field during charge and discharge cycles to enable rapid charging by steering ions within existing battery cells. The magnetic field also lowers cell degradation, extending battery life.

The company’s £9.4m funding was awarded by Autotech Ventures, supported by existing investors BGF and UCL Technology Fund, managed by AlbionVC in collaboration with UCL Business.

This game-changing technology was inspired by the founders’ research at լƵ Faculty of Engineering, where they used particle accelerators to analyse energy materials such as batteries and fuel cells and saw an opportunity to apply similar technologies to tackle commercial challenges.

The funding will help Gaussion to unlock truly ‘rapid’ charging on battery cells and tap into the burgeoning electric vehicle market, a critical part of the broader energy transition.

Tom Heenan, Gaussion CEO and co-founder said: “In many applications, we are observing that efforts to rapidly electrify are delayed or blocked due to the cost of raising the ceiling of battery performance.

“Whereas magnetic enhancement could provide step-change improvements across all chemistries, formats and applications, affordably unlocking electrification without compromising on cost or performance.”

The company received support from UCL Business (UCLB), լƵ commercialisation arm, with intellectual property protection and completion of the funding round.

David Grimm, Partner UCL Technology Fund said, “Slow charging speed and battery degradation are currently limiting the wide-scale adoption of electric vehicles and the broader energy transition. Dr. Tom Heenan and Dr. Chun Tan, co-founders of Gaussion, have managed to solve this problem by building an innovative solution from their university labs into a scaling company. Gaussion’s commercial application taps into a huge market need and we look forward to continuing to support them on their journey.”

The funding follows a further seed raise of £2.85 million led by BGF and UCL Technology Fund (UCLTF) in 2022.

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Gaussion founders Dr Thomas Heenan and Professor Chun Tan (c) Gaussion