Investment to spark new Sheffield start-up

A new Sheffield start-up, named after a 19^th century scientist, is ready to spark into life after becoming one of the first companies to receive an investment from Finance Yorkshire.

Faradion, based at the Electric Works, Sheffield Digital Campus, has received a five-figure Seedcorn Fund investment to help bring down the cost of high-capacity batteries which will make electric vehicles more practical.

At present electric vehicles are dependent on batteries that in some cases cost as much as the whole of a conventional petrol car, and which have uncertain lifetimes.

Named after chemist and physicist Michael Faraday - who was pivotal in developing the science of electrochemistry used in batteries - Faradion plans to use a number of technologies which can potentially halve the costs of storing electrical energy

Andrew Dixey, chairman of Faradion, said: "Electric cars have been tried many times but have typically suffered from disappointing range, performance and cost. Faradion is a new company with the ambition to allow better and cheaper batteries to change people’s perceptions.

"Without cheaper batteries there will always be a danger that electric vehicles will not be an option for mass production, especially in developing economies."

Ashwin Kumaraswamy, investment manager at Finance Yorkshire, added: "I am delighted to be able to back Faradion with this investment.

"As chairman Andrew Dixey brings with him vast experience of taking early stage companies to market where stakeholder relationships play a key role in the success of the business. He has previous experience in the battery sector and has raised significant funds to develop technologies, taking them to market and in doing so increasing the shareholder value."

Helping a range of small and medium sized businesses to meet their funding requirements for growth and development, Finance Yorkshire provides seedcorn, loan and equity linked investments, ranging from £15,000 to £2m.

The project is supported financially by the European Union. It has attracted £30million investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of Europe’s support for the region’s economic development through the Yorkshire and Humber ERDF Programme.

For more information about Finance Yorkshire, please visit www.finance-yorkshire.com or ring 0845 649 0000.

Note: this news article is from Finance Yorkshire’s previous fund. Read more about Finance Yorkshire