Quino Energy, a San Leandro, CA-based startup commercializing water-based organic flow battery technology licensed from Harvard University, raised $1.25M in Seed funding.
The round, which brings the total of the investment to $4.55M, included Energy Revolution Ventures and Doral Energy Tech Ventures, while TechEnergy Ventures. They joined ANRI, TechEnergy Ventures, and another confidential strategic investor as major Series Seed investors.
The company intends to use the funds to further scale and demonstrate its in situ, zero-waste battery electrolyte production process that turns dyestuff chemicals made from coal tar into long lifetime battery reactants using the flow battery system itself as the chemical reactor.
Formed in 2021 and led by Eugene Beh, CEO, Quino Energy is developing water-based flow batteries that store electrical energy in organic molecules called quinones, for commercial and grid applications. Demonstrations are envisioned at commercially relevant scales at external sites in addition to an onsite microgrid at the company’s lab in San Leandro, California. Formed by combining a commercial rooftop solar system with one of the company’s prototypes, the onsite microgrid will enable Quino Energy to move its office operations off-grid while simultaneously collecting real-world field testing data.
