Energy company Estes secures $11 million in funding for its multi-chemistry battery technology development platform
Estes Energy, a US-based company specialising in battery technology, has raised $11 million in a seed funding round co-led by BMW i Ventures and Fortescue. The funding will support Estes in serving various sectors of the electrification market, including defense, aviation, marine, rail, port, construction, and mining, among others.
According to Dustin Grace, CEO of Estes, the electrification market is expanding rapidly into these sectors, as well as novel robotics and autonomy applications. He emphasised the need for sustainable growth in the electrification market and the importance of domestic resilience in the next generation of battery systems.
Estes Energy's multi-chemistry battery pack platform offers a modular system that is seamlessly interchangeable and suitable for heavy-use applications. The platform can use either nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) or lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells. The NMC variant targets mass-sensitive uses with an energy density of 380 Wh/L, while the LFP variant addresses cost-sensitive applications.
The new funding will be used to finalise the development of this multi-chemistry platform, expand the company’s development team, build out a pilot manufacturing line in the US, and begin deploying battery systems to early customers starting in Q4 2025. Establishing US-based manufacturing capabilities is a key goal, which supports domestic battery supply chain resilience aligned with national priorities.
New System Ventures and early investor DCVC also participated in the funding round. With this funding, Estes Energy has raised a total of $20 million to date.
Dustin Grace stated that this funding will propel the company towards serving these markets at the level of performance, economics, and domestic resilience necessary for sustainable growth. He referred to the funding as a means to serve various sectors of the electrification market.
The flexible approach of Estes Energy's platform allows OEMs to serve a broad range of markets—from automotive to defense, aviation, marine, rail, port, construction, mining, robotics, and autonomy—using a single integration effort, thereby reducing time and cost. The LFP-powered variant of the platform is suitable for cost-sensitive applications.
In summary, Estes Energy’s platform distinguishes itself by its chemistry-agnostic modular design, optimised for both performance and economics across diverse heavy-duty electrification markets, while the seed capital accelerates product finalisation, pilot production, and early customer deployments within the US.
Technology advancements in the electrification market are being heavily funded by Estes Energy, following a successful $11 million seed round. This funding, contributed by investors such as BMW i Ventures and Fortescue, will be utilized to develop Estes' multi-chemistry battery platform, further the research in general-news sectors like defense, aviation, marine, rail, port, construction, mining, robotics, and autonomy.
