Long-duration battery startup lands $5M on journey to one day power data centers and metro areas

Skip Technology raised $5 million to help the grid-scale battery startup begin deploying prototypes for field testing.

The Portland, Ore., company is building long-duration batteries that use hydrogen bromine to produce power instead of the more common lithium-ion chemistry. Compared to conventional batteries, Skip Tech devices hold power for a longer time, are much less flammable, and require components that are easy to source domestically, according to the team.

The company’s smaller batteries will be able to power offline operations like a food truck, while a collection of about 10 shipping container-sized batteries could provide enough juice for a large data center, said co-founder and CEO Brennan Gantner. Tech giants such as Amazon and Microsoft are searching for data center energy storage solutions to provide clean power when wind and solar aren’t available.

A data center “can go completely off grid if they if they choose to,” Gantner said. “We really tailor our solution to give them as much power as they want for a relatively low cost compared to lithium.”

The new investment round is being led by Puyallup Tribal Enterprises, which also invested in a previous round. Skip Tech and the Washington-based tribal organization are additionally partnering in production of the batteries. Puyallup Tribal Enterprises is building a manufacturing facility south of Seattle to make the devices.

The startup also recently announced a partnership with Continuous Solutions, a fellow Portland company that will provide the electronics needed to convert the DC energy produced by the battery into standard AC voltages comparable to the electricity delivered from wall outlets.

Skip Tech launched in 2018, has 11 employees and is in the process of hiring a 12th. The headcount could double by next summer.

Gantner and his co-founder Ben Brown both hold doctorate degrees in astrophysics, and met as graduate students at the University of Colorado. Brown is now an associate professor at the same university and Gantner previously co-founded a wind-power company.

The basic engineering for the batteries is done, Gantner said, and the team is now tweaking the design to try improving the performance. Skip Tech’s goal by the end of the decade is to be in large-scale production, manufacturing thousands of batteries powerful enough to electrify entire metropolitan areas.

The climate sector has benefited from billions of dollars in federal grants and tax credits approved by the Biden administration. The policies have supported domestic battery production in particular.

But Gantner said Skip Tech should be fine despite President-elect Trump’s plans to cut off government aid for climate programs. And all of their battery components can be domestically sourced, so Trump’s promise of high tariffs on foreign goods should have a minimal effect.

“We actually started this company during the first Trump administration,” Gantner said. “We have never been economically focused on subsidies or any sort of fiscal help from the government in terms of go-to-market.”

The Biden policies did help jumpstart the market, he said, but Trump’s return to office “is not a catastrophic change. It is not great, but we will be OK.”

Previously:

• Your startup builds clean energy tech, but Trump loves fossil fuels – here are some keys to survival