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Tata Leads $9.5M Round In US Energy Startup Sun Catalytix

By Madhav A Chanchani

  • 08 Oct 2010

Sun Catalytix Corporation, an energy storage and renewable fuels company, has raised a $9.5-million Series B round led by Tata Limited with participation from existing investor Polaris Venture Partners. The funds will be used to develop the company’s breakthrough catalyst technology. 

Dr. Ralf Speth, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover, has joined the Sun Catalytix board as a representative of Tata.

Tata Limited is a Tata Sons’ subsidiary established in 1907. The group has also earlier invested in US-based startups. Another group firm, Tata Capital, invested in software radio maker founded by Vanu Bose (son of Amar Bose of Bose corp) called Vanu in 2008.

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Sun Catalytix, which is a spinout from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), had raised seed funding from Polaris Venture Partners last year.  Sun Catalytix's technology uses catalysts made of earth-abundant elements that split water and generate hydrogen and oxygen from water and renewably-generated electricity. This technology aims at conversion of electrical, solar or wind energy to storable form at "transformative cost targets."

“The funding secured in this round will enable Sun Catalytix to continue to move its technology forward and to deliver prototypes,” said MIT Professor and Sun Catalytix Founder Daniel Nocera. “We are delighted to have attracted Tata, a global and visionary company, as an investor and to have the continuing strong support of Polaris Venture Partners.”

Sun Catalytix also signed a contract for over $4 million in federal funding from the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).

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