LONDON, June 13 (Reuters) - British battery materials firm Echion has raised $35 million from investors to help scale up its niobium-based anode materials and bring them to market for electric vehicles and other uses, it said on Thursday.
The Series B round was led by Volta Energy Technologies - which specialises in battery and energy storage technology - and brought fresh funding from existing investors including Brazilian mining company CBMM and investment firm Cambridge Enterprise Ventures.
Niobium is a stable metal often used to strengthen steel - the world's largest deposits are in Brazil and Canada.
Used in anodes or cathodes, startups like Echion say niobium can handle super-fast charging while lasting many years longer than today's batteries - both of which are important to automakers as they develop new EVs.
"The entire Echion team has worked tirelessly...and this has enabled us to establish partnerships with many major OEMs (automakers) and cell manufacturers which have recognised the benefits of our materials," Echion CEO Jean de La Verpilliere said in a statement.
Brazil's CBMM dominates niobium production and will later this year open a manufacturing facility in partnership with Echion that can produce 2,000 metric tons of niobium anode materials per year.