EV battery-focused tech startup Gaussion announced today that it has raised $12 million in a Series A funding round, with proceeds aimed at advancing its technology to significantly enhance battery performance and enable much faster charging.

Founded by Dr Thomas Heenan and Dr Chun Tan, University College London (UCL) spinoff Gaussion provides technology to upscale the performance and viability of EV batteries. The company’s solution uses an external magnetic field during charge and discharge cycles, steering ions within existing battery cells, to enable rapid charging, in addition to extending battery life by lowering cell degradation. Guassion has noted that its technology has been demonstrated to accelerate charging by up to 67% on commercial Li-ion cells.

Beyond EV batteries, Gaussion noted potential application for its solution in applications across transportation electrification, construction equipment, mining operations, residential energy storage, and utility-scale energy storage for load and phase balancing.

Tom Heenan, Gaussion CEO and co-founder, said:

“In many applications, we are observing that efforts to rapidly electrify are delayed or blocked due to the cost of raising the ceiling of battery performance. Whereas magnetic enhancement could provide step-change improvements across all chemistries, formats and applications, affordably unlocking electrification without compromising on cost or performance.”

The company said that the new capital will enable market entry, including producing and selling its products, and potentially licensing its technology for other applications.

The Series A round was led by transportation technologies-focused VC investor Autotech Ventures and supported by existing investors including growth capital investor BGF and UCL Technology Fund, managed by AlbionVC in collaboration with UCL Business.

Alexei Andreev, co-founder and Managing Director of Autotech Ventures, said:

“Gaussion’s approach aims to expand the solution space by introducing a new variable, rather than displacing or replacing existing technologies. They leverage the advancements of current battery cell giants and apply an external magnetic field to enhance the performance of established battery technologies without changing their core components. We see tremendous opportunities in a variety of markets.”