General Catalyst Puts $5.6M More into SustainX

SustainX, the New Hampshire-based energy storage company, took on an additional $5.6 million in funding, less than two months after striking a $14.4 million funding with a group of investors. This time, General Catalyst and prior investors chipped in on its funding. Other investors include GE Energy Financial Services, a unit of GE, Cadent Energy Partners, Polaris Ventures, Rockport Capital, Small Business Innovation Research program of the National Science Foundation and the Energy Storage Program of the US Department of Energy.

PRESS RELEASE:

WEST LEBANON, N.H., May 3, 2011/ — New Hampshire-based energy storage company SustainX has received an additional $5.6 million in funding from Boston based General Catalyst Partners and previous investors, bringing the total for its most recent round of financing to $20 million. The funds will support continued development of SustainX’s patented Isothermal compressed air energy storage technology.
“SustainX is developing a transformative technology solution to address the grid-scale energy storage problem,” said Bilal Zuberi, Principal of General Catalyst. “We are excited about partnering with SustainX founders and management team to bring this solution to market.”
“SustainX’s consistent performance in achieving technical milestones has allowed us to attract a syndicate of top-tier investors, which now includes General Catalyst,” said SustainX CEO Thomas Zarella. “This new round of financing will allow SustainX to develop its first MW scale system and move quickly toward commercialization.”
The three-year-old company has already received four US patents for core elements of its technology and completed a Pilot plant. The company is on track to demonstrate its first one megawatt grid connected system in collaboration with AES Energy Storage under an award funded by the Energy Storage Program at the US Department of Energy.
About SustainX
SustainX was founded in 2007 by engineers at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. It has received funding from the National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research Program and the Energy Storage Program at the US Department of Energy, as well as equity investments from GE Energy Financial Services and top-tier venture investors Rockport Capital (with offices in Menlo Park, CA and Boston), Polaris Venture Partners (Boston and Seattle), Cadent Energy Partners (Stamford, CT and Houston), and General Catalyst Partners (Boston and Menlo Park, CA). SustainX is a General Electric Ecomagination Partner.
SustainX has received four US patents to date on core aspects of its technology, solidifying its leading IP position in the field of compressed-air energy storage. The issued patents cover a wide range of isothermal systems, including both existing SustainX systems and those in development.
The company’s transformative energy storage technology, which it terms ICAES™ (for Isothermal Compressed-Air Energy Storage), uses no fuel. SustainX’s competitive advantages stem from its patented proprietary thermodynamic and hydraulic control innovations, a design centered on mature industrial components, and reliance on ambient-temperature, nontoxic working fluids.
SustainX ICAES is targeting the emerging market for bulk (grid-scale) energy storage being created by the growth in renewable generation, and aims to disrupt costly “peaker” plants that burn natural gas or other polluting fuels.