Electric motor startup Kite Magnetics, which won a Top 10 Gold Award at this title’s Australia’s 50 Most Innovative Manufacturers awards last week, has received a $US $2.2 million (approximately $3.6 million) seed investment from SQM Lithium Ventures.
According to a joint statement from the two companies on Monday, the investment is part of Kite’s “Seed+ funding round”, led by SQM.
Kite is a developer and maker of stator cores, a key component in electric motors and generators, making use of a nanocrystalline magnetic material based on Monash University research and known as Aeroperm.
The novel material increases the efficiency of motors and “enabl[es] electric vehicles to travel farther on a single charge”, versus electric steel cores, according to the company.
SQM Lithium Ventures is the venture capital arm of SQM International Lithium, and the venture investment is its first in Australia. It said the decision followed “several months of diligence and meetings with the team, culminating with an investment committee with participation of SQM’s CEO and other key company leaders.”
CEO of Kite Magnetics, Dr Richard Parsons, said the funding “will help us scale our technology to revolutioni[s]e EVs.
“By increasing range and reducing mass, we’re not just making electric vehicles drive further[,] we’re making them cheaper and more sustainable, accelerating adoption.”
Kite Magnetics was established in 2021, with an initial focus on electric aviation. It opened a Green Aviation Test Facility in September 2023.
It said on Monday that – alongside commitments from other investors – the funding will enable it “to build pilot production facilities for Aeroperm, make key strategic hires, and expand its global presence to better serve customers around the world.”
Early this year it mentioned ambitions to produce up to 50,000 tons of Aeroperm per year by 2029.
Pictures: supplied
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