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					</table><p><a href="https://antoraenergy.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Antora Energy</a>, a developer of thermal batteries, has raised $550 million in an oversubscribed Series C funding round co-led by G2 Venture Partners and Eclipse.</p>
<p>New investors included Ribbit Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Activate Capital, John Doerr, Westly Group, StepStone Group, and Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures. Existing investors Decarbonization Partners, Impact Science Ventures, Trust Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and Lowercarbon Capital also participated.</p>
<p>The company develops thermal batteries that store electricity as heat in insulated solid carbon blocks. The systems can deliver stored energy as heat or electricity for industrial facilities, data centers, and grid applications.</p>
<p>Antora plans to use the proceeds to accelerate project deployments, expand production, establish a second manufacturing hub in the U.S., and strengthen its domestic supply chain.</p>
<p>“This financing unlocks a new phase of growth for Antora,” said Nehali Jain, VP of Strategy and Growth at Antora. “In 2024, we opened our U.S. factory, which is now one of the largest battery factories in the country. Earlier this year, we turned on one of the largest battery storage projects in the world. This funding round is how we deploy more projects, more quickly, across more sectors and geographies.”</p>
<p>Antora said its insulated blocks can serve chemical plants, food producers, steel manufacturers, and other industrial customers.</p>
<p>The funding announcement follows Antora’s deployment of a 5 GWh energy storage system in South Dakota. The company said it is applying the project development model used for the South Dakota installation to a pipeline of signed agreements with hyperscale data center operators and industrial companies.</p>
<p>The funding follows a $150 million Series B funding round <a href="https://mercomcapital.com/thermal-battery-maker-antora-energy-raises-150-million/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">completed</a> in 2024. Decarbonization Partners, a partnership between BlackRock and Temasek, led the earlier round. Emerson Collective, GS Futures, The Nature Conservancy, and a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources also participated.</p>
<p>According to Mercom’s recently <a href="https://mercomcapital.com/product/1h-2026-funding-ma-report-energy-storage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> 1H 2026 Funding and M&amp;A for Energy Storage report, energy storage companies totaled $1.6 billion across 51 deals in 1H 2026, representing a 6% YoY decline compared to the $1.7 billion raised across 36 deals in 1H 2025.</p>


Thermal Battery Company Antora Energy Raises $550 Million in Funding

<p><a href="https://electrifiedthermal.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Electrified Thermal Solutions</a>, an electric heating and thermal energy storage solutions provider, raised $19 million to accelerate the commercialization of its Joule Hive Thermal Battery (JHTB) system.</p>
<p>The round was backed by Holcim MAQER Ventures, Vale Ventures, TechEnergy Ventures, EDP Ventures, and Tupras Ventures alongside financial investor GVP Climate and follow-on investors Clean Energy Ventures and Starlight Ventures, with participation from Mass Ventures and Clean Energy Venture Group.</p>
<p>The company claims to offer a different solution compared to current thermal battery solutions that are stated to use bricks or rocks to store heat but depend on traditional heating elements (such as toaster wire) to generate and transfer heat to the storage media.</p>
<p>Electrified Thermal Solutions, through their JHTB system, utilize bricks that serve a triple function: as the heating element, thermal storage media, and heat exchanger. By stacking these electric bricks alongside traditional firebricks in a specific pattern, the company claims to create three-dimensional heated circuits.</p>
<p>“Mining, metals, cement, chemicals – the foundations of our built environment – are the most energy-intensive and stubborn industries to decarbonize. With the backing of these investors, our upcoming commercial demonstration will showcase the unmatched capabilities of the Joule Hive Thermal Battery at industrial scale, accelerating deployment across all heating applications, from boilers to dryers to furnaces in every industry,” said Daniel Stack, Co-founder and CEO of Electrified Thermal.</p>
<p>The commercial demonstration is expected to be operational by 2025, while JHTB will be commercialized by 2026.</p>
<p>According to Mercom’s 9M and Q3 2024 Funding and M&amp;A <a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/product/9m-and-q3-2024-funding-and-ma-report-for-storage-and-grid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Report</a> for Energy Storage and Smart Grid, VC funding for Energy Storage companies in 9M 2024 came to $2.7 billion in 61 deals, a 69% decrease year-over-year compared to $8.6 billion in 68 deals in 9M 2023.</p>
<p>In September, Exergy3, a thermal energy-based energy storage system provider, <a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/thermal-energy-storage-startup-exergy3-raises-1-3-million/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">secured</a> £1 million (~$1.3 million) in a pre-seed funding round. Zero Carbon Capital led this funding with participation from existing investors Old College Capital and Scottish Enterprise.</p>


Electrified Thermal Solutions Secures $19 Million in Funding

<p><a href="https://www.exergy3.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Exergy3</a>, a thermal energy-based energy storage system provider, secured £1 million (~$1.3 million) in a pre-seed funding round. Zero Carbon Capital led this funding with participation from existing investors Old College Capital and Scottish Enterprise.</p>
<p>According to the company, this funding will expand its team, strengthen its support in the thermal storage sector, and conduct market research.</p>
<p>Dr Markus Rondé, CEO of Exergy3, said: “This funding will enable us to accelerate the commercialization of our technology, expand our market research, and continue to drive innovation in the clean heat sector. Our mission is to provide a practical and affordable pathway towards decarbonizing heat, and this investment is a significant step forward in achieving that goal.”</p>
<p>Exergy3 develops modular thermal energy storage systems that convert green electricity into heat and store it at temperatures up to 1300°C. Last year, the company <a href="https://www.exergy3.com/projects/annandale-distillery" target="_blank" rel="noopener">secured</a> £3.6 Million (~$4.7 million) in funding from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero to build a full-scale demonstrator for Annandale Distillery in Scotland.</p>
<p>According to Mercom’s recently released 1H and Q2 2024 Funding and M&amp;A <a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/product/1h-q2-2024-funding-ma-report-storage-grid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> for Energy Storage and Smart Grid, VC funding for Energy Storage companies in 1H 2024 came to $2.4 billion in 48 deals, a 37% decrease year-over-year compared to $3.8 billion in 43 deals in 1H 2023.</p>
<p>Last month, Calectra, a thermal energy-based energy storage system provider, <a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/thermal-energy-storage-startup-calectra-raises-pre-seed-funding/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raised</a> $1.6 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Lifeline Ventures with participation from Aera VC, Security Trading (an investment company of Antti Herlin’s family), Orca Climate Fund, Wave Ventures, Prodeko Ventures, and Justin Brodie-Kommit.</p>


Thermal Energy Storage Startup Exergy3 Raises $1.3 Million


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					</table><p>Thermal energy storage (TES), as a form of long-duration energy storage (LDES), can help decarbonize roughly 45% of all energy-related emissions by ensuring that industrial operations requiring heat are optimized affordably, said a report by <a href="https://www.ldescouncil.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Long Duration Energy Storage Council</a> and <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">McKinsey</a>.</p>
<p>Heat storage technologies can offer a variety of storage durations (from intraday to seasonal) and temperatures (from subzero to 2,400°C) and integrate intermittent renewable energy into a firm supply of heat energy.</p>
<p>For instance, TES can firm the variable offshore wind supply into a more stable supply of clean heat for industrial heating, including high-temperature heating. This can completely change the energy-usage pattern of a typical industrial hub.</p>
<p>Further, the report said, “According to the 2022 LDES benchmark results, TES enables cost-efficient electrification and decarbonization of the most widely used heat applications, namely steam and hot air,” the report said</p>
<p>TES can help double the overall installed capacity of LDES to 2 TW-8 TW by 2040. While this will require capital expenditure of $1.6 trillion-$2.5 trillion, it could lead to savings on system costs by up to $540 billion per year.</p>
<p>The findings establish the need for thermal storage to be part of an integrated energy system that includes electrical and molecular storage to accelerate a decarbonized energy system further.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-44974 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Picture1-7.png" alt="" width="567" height="253" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Picture1-7.png 567w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Picture1-7-300x134.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 567px) 100vw, 567px" /></p>
<p>“More LDES enables an accelerated build-out of renewables and greater optimization of grid utilization. When thermal energy storage is part of the mix of diverse LDES technologies, then the results are clear &#8211; long-duration energy storage continues to be a cost-effective, reliable, sustainable, and secure component of our net-zero future,” LDES Council Executive Director Julia Souder said.</p>
<p><strong>LDES costs are declining</strong></p>
<p>The report said that TES solutions have an internal rate of return of 6% to 28% for chemical plants, 22% for off-grid greenhouses, up to 16% for district heating peaker plants, and 16% for alumina refineries.</p>
<p>It is predicted that LDES costs will decline in the following years, suggesting a 25% to 50% overall capital expenditure (CAPEX) reduction of power LDES technologies by 2040. TES capital expenditure is expected to decline by 5% to 30% for power CAPEX and 15% to 70% for energy storage CAPEX.</p>
<p>Incorporating various storage technologies creates an opportunity to optimize the current utilization and future development of fixed infrastructure assets.</p>
<p>The reports suggest that LDES can enable more efficient grid utilization through supply-and-demand management and storage as a transmission asset, thereby reducing costs related to such expansions. This could prove especially beneficial over the next five to ten years, when the bulk of grids will need to be re-designed, given the typical ten-year development timeline of major grid expansions.</p>
<p>Better grid utilization may, in turn, allow the integration of more renewable generation capacity into the system.</p>
<p>The Biden government <a href="https://mercomindia.com/us-announces-350-million-for-long-demonstration-projects/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> a $350 million fund for LDES demonstration projects. These storage projects will be built to deliver electricity for up to 10 to 24 hours or even longer to support a low-cost, reliable, and carbon-free electric grid.</p>
<p>Earlier in August, it had <a href="https://mercomindia.com/us-to-invest-23-billion-for-clean-energy-deployment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launched</a> two new program offices – the Grid Deployment Office and the Office of State and Community Energy Programs – to drive more than $23 billion in investments to expand the power grid capacity and deploy cheaper, cheaper, cleaner energy.</p>


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