Log 9 Materials raises $2mn from Petronas Ventures, closes series A+ round

Bengaluru-headquartered advanced battery-tech and deep-tech start-up Log 9 Materials has concluded its Series A+ funding round of $10 million with $2 million investment from Petronas Ventures, the venture capital arm of Petronas, a global energy and solutions company.

This funding round has been led by India’s battery major Amara Raja Batteries; it also involved the participation of Exfinity Ventures and Sequoia Capital India's Surge Programme, alongside a clutch of strategic angel investors.

The funds raised from Petronas Ventures along with the funds previously raised in this round will be used by Log 9 to launch and scale the Log 9 InstaCharge Network of electric vehicles --wherein Log 9 has integrated its fast-charging batteries named RapidX Batteries with various 2 Wheeler and 3 Wheeler OEMs in order to create RapidEV variants of their existing vehicles. The start-up plans to deploy around 5000 vehicles in the next 6 months within its InstaCharge Network.

Further, the funds from the Series A+ round will be utilized to develop and scale the technology and manufacturing capabilities of Log 9 from materials to cell to battery pack level.

Akshay Singhal, Founder & CEO, Log 9 Materials says, “The latest fundraise from Petronas Ventures -- enables us to accelerate our ongoing mission of introducing our breakthrough InstaCharge(rapid charging) battery technology to a plethora of end-users, and in positioning Log 9 as the largest Indian player in advanced cell chemistries. The advancements and OEM level vehicular integrations of Log 9’s Aluminum Fuel Cells will also continue to happen in parallel.”

For its rapid charging battery packs, Log 9 has already completed over 10 pilots with various last-mile fleet operators for a run of over 3,000 km without any degradation, consistent load carrying capacity, persistent InstaCharging and high uptime of vehicles.

"Log 9’s batteries are capable of fully charging in 15 minutes for a two-wheeler and 40 minutes for a three-wheeler, making them ideal for commercial use cases. Furthermore, these batteries have a life of over 15,000 cycles, corresponding to over 15 years of usage, with already being certified less than 3% degradation in the life of a typical last-mile delivery vehicle. The commercial launch of Log 9’s Rapid Charging Batteries is scheduled for October 2021," the start-up said.