Leyden Energy, a Fremont, California – based lithium-ion battery maker, announced Wednesday that it raised $20 million in a Series B round of financing. New Enterprise Associates (NEA) led this round of funding and included existing investors Lightspeed Ventures, Sigma Partners and Walden International. Leyden Energy also announced that it added NEA’s Ron Bernal to its Board of Directors.
The company said that the money would be used towards the production of its lithium-ion battery technology for the consumer electronics, energy storage and electric vehicle markets. The following video illustrates how lithium-ion batteries are made by Leyden:
"Leyden Energy combines all of the elements we look for in a portfolio company—tangible intellectual property that can be commercialized in a cost-effective manner to address a large market problem," said Ron Bernal, venture partner at NEA. "What the company has introduced is really an energy storage platform that can be applied to a number of different product markets in order to increase the value that those applications bring to end customers. We are excited to be working with Leyden Energy to usher in its next stage of growth."
"The involvement of a top-tier investor and growth partner like NEA further validates the recent progress Leyden Energy has made in bringing its product suite to market," said Aakar Patel, president and CEO of Leyden Energy. "Market demand for high-performance, long-lasting batteries in consumer electronics is growing, and we are perfectly positioned to answer that demand and improve the customer experience for product manufacturers worldwide."
– This post was written by Rob Stewart, a graduate student pursuing an M.A. in Urban Sustainability at the Antioch University of Los Angeles, and edited by Leonard Adler, Founder and Publisher of Green VC.