I am Henk Both, and I am on the investment team at Anzu Partners, where I focus on energy and cleantech. Today, we are thrilled to introduce you to e-Zinc, one of the most recent additions to Anzu’s portfolio. e-Zinc is an innovative Toronto-based company developing batteries for long-duration energy storage. e-Zinc’s batteries have the potential to support the increased deployment of renewable energy technologies like wind and solar.
As we speak, global energy markets are in the midst of a technology revolution, driven by rapidly falling costs of renewable energy technologies like solar and wind, which may provide cheap, renewable low-carbon power to end customers. However, the increased adoption of wind and solar presents an interesting technology challenge: Utilities prioritize maintaining stable, reliable power, but these power sources are intermittent. The wind often dies down for days at a time, and daily sunshine can be severely impacted by cloudy weather. Complicating the matter further, electricity reliability may be challenged by climate-related power disruptions, such as winter storms in Texas, seasonal wildfires across much of the Western US, and hurricanes in the Eastern US and Puerto Rico.
This is where e-Zinc makes its entrance. e-Zinc’s zinc-based battery is designed to provide power for longer durations than a conventional lithium-ion battery. Lithium-ion batteries used for backup power usually only provide about 4-8 hours of power. This is due to economics, not physics – it can be relatively expensive to provide 8+ hours of backup power with lithium-ion batteries, which is one reason diesel generators are often used.
The economics of price vs. duration scale differently for e-Zinc’s chemistry and cell design than for lithium-ion batteries, which enables e-Zinc to be increasingly more cost-competitive at longer durations. The downside of an e-Zinc battery is that it is less energy-dense than a lithium-ion battery, which means it requires a larger footprint to deliver the same power. This is one of the reasons lithium-ion batteries are used for portable applications like powering electric vehicles or smartphones. However, e-Zinc is well-suited to stationary storage applications where portability is less of a concern and the cost of resilience is often the driving factor.
Additionally, zinc-based batteries may have greater long-term cost stability and availability than lithium for stationary storage applications. Zinc is an abundant commodity, with less anticipated growth in demand in the coming years, when compared to lithium. Global lithium demand is forecasted to grow roughly 10x by 2030, which can strain supplies and drive price volatility. In these conditions, lithium may be prioritized for the mobile applications described above rather than stationary storage.
With these distinct advantages in cost and availability, e-Zinc has attracted the attention of several major industrial and energy companies around the world as potential customers and development partners. The advantages of e-Zinc’s long-duration energy storage batteries have convinced the most recent round of strategic investors who have joined the company’s recently announced $25M Series A financing, led by Anzu:
“While it is clear that electrification has a key role to play in our journey towards decarbonization, we must ensure that there is an ample and affordable supply of clean energy to the grid. The company’s innovative battery… [brings] us one step closer to a zero-carbon future,” said Lisa Coca, partner of the Climate Fund at Toyota Ventures.
“We are very excited to partner with e-Zinc… This investment reaffirms our commitment to the energy transition with the increasing development of renewable energy assets and our active involvement in the long-term energy storage space, which we regard as a key enabler for the electrification and the decarbonization of the global energy production," said Gabriele Franceschini, Chairman, and CEO of Eni Next.
In addition, e-Zinc continues to win significant awards, providing further external validation of the technology. In the last few weeks (after Anzu’s investment!), e-Zinc won $1M CAD as the grand prize winner for the Canadian government’s Impact Canada Challenge.
We are eager to see e-Zinc continue to develop their technology and provide in-field validation in commercial demonstration projects, supported by Anzu and these top-tier strategic partners!
Sincerely,
Henk Both
NEW ANZU PORTFOLIO COMPANIES
Toyota Ventures and ENI Next join Anzu Partners in backing e-Zinc, and its energy storage solution
e-Zinc secured $25 million in Series A financing to commence the pilot production of its first commercial sustainable, long-duration zinc-air battery for field deployment. The round was led by Anzu Partners, with additional funding from BDC Capital, Toyota Ventures, Eni Next, and existing investor Energy Foundry.
As reliance on intermittent renewable energy increases across the world, there is a higher demand for long-duration energy storage assets that enhance the reliability and resiliency of renewable energy assets.e-Zinc’s unique zinc-based electrochemical technology provides a long-lasting, low-cost, flexible, fire-resistant, and easily recyclable energy storage solution. With this new funding, e-Zinc plans to execute high-value commercial pilot projects that provide further in-field validation for its batteries.
Genoa Ventures and VC23 LLC join Anzu Partners in backing Codetta Biosciences and its digital spatial PCR platform
Codetta Biosciences announced that it has raised $15 million in Series A financing to accelerate the development of its multi-omic digital spatial polymerase chain reaction (dsPCR) platform and aggressively scale up its workforce in R&D, engineering, marketing, and business administration. The round was led by Anzu Partners with additional funding from Genoa Ventures and VC23 LLC.
Codetta’s dsPCR platform is designed to enable highly multiplexed, quantitative, simultaneous multi-omic analyses of liquid biopsy and isolated DNA, RNA, and protein. By allowing researchers to analyze viral and bacterial targets, mutations, and deletions, as well as gene and protein expression more efficiently than conventional technologies, Codetta’s platform will improve translational research and the development of new multi-omic diagnostics.
LG Technology Ventures and Shell Ventures join Anzu Partners in backing South 8 Technologies and its electrolyte formulations for next-generation lithium batteries
South 8 Technologies announced it has raised $12 million in Series A financing to accelerate the commercialization of its patented Liquefied Gas Electrolyte (LiGas®) technology for high-performance batteries for electric vehicles, grid storage, aerospace, and defense applications. The round was led by Anzu Partners with participation from LG Technology Ventures, Shell Ventures, Foothill Ventures, and Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation (TNSC).
This new financing will allow South 8 to further develop its unique next-generation lithium batteries and address the shortcomings of existing liquid electrolytes and solid-state batteries that are still under development. Unlike common battery electrolytes that are liquid at room temperature or solid-state electrolytes, South 8’s non-toxic LiGas technology uses solvents that are normally gaseous at standard pressure and room temperature but may be liquefied under pressure and used as an electrolyte within the cell.
BoxOne Ventures joins Anzu Partners and other investors in backing Harvard spin-out Cytotronics
CytoTronics emerged from stealth mode by announcing it has raised $9.25 million in seed funding to advance its breakthrough drug discovery platform that utilizes complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology to conduct a suite of electrical and electrochemical cell-based assays. The round was led by Anzu Partners with participation from BoxOne Ventures and other investors.
With this seed funding, CytoTronics aims to commercialize its CMOS electronics platform that enables optics-free imaging. Building upon a suite of innovations licensed from Harvard University, CytoTronics’ technology measures and manipulates live cells to produce real-time, high resolution electrical and electrochemical cell-based assays. By providing unique single-cell resolution readouts that are not currently available in today’s cell-based drug screening market, CytoTronics is enhancing the accuracy of cell-biology information that can be used to re-engineer life science data acquisition and revolutionize drug discovery.
BioFlyte Raised $6.1 Million in Series A Financing
BioFlyte announced that it raised $6.1 million in Series A financing to accelerate field validation and production of its bio-aerosol detection system, the BioTOF™ z200. The round was led by Cottonwood Technology Fund with additional funding from Anzu Partners.
6K received a $1.5 Million Massachusetts Manufacturing Innovation Initiative Grant from the Baker-Polito Administration
The Baker-Polito Administration awarded a $1.5 million grant from the Massachusetts Manufacturing Innovation Initiative to 6K to help boost the company’s cutting-edge production of advanced materials that are used in additive manufacturing and in the production of batteries for electric vehicles, grid storage, and consumer electronics.
The administration selected 6K for this grant stating that its cutting-edge UniMelt® microwave technology is “quintessentially Massachusetts” in terms of its innovative, sustainable, and environmentally-friendly characteristics, which recycles scrap materials or used metal powder or parts that would otherwise have gone to landfill, and instead transform it into premium metal powder used in 3D printing for the production parts used in aerospace, defense, medical, and automotive applications. The grant was announced at an event at 6K’s new battery material production facility in North Andover, MA, and will fund the purchase of one new UniMelt system.
InterVenn Biosciences Showcased New Research at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022
InterVenn Biosciences shared new data from glycoproteomic analysis on its perspectIV™ platform during several presentations at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in New Orleans.
First, InterVenn Co-founder Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D., and Distinguished Scientist Klaus Lindpaintner, MD, MPH shared their insights on how glycoproteomics can advance translational research with the aim of helping to improve outcomes for cancer patients during the InterVenn Exhibitor Spotlight Theater. In the following days, Lindpaintner also delivered scientific presentations highlighting new data that demonstrate how glycoproteomics is advancing translational research in oncology, specifically covering “glycoproteomics-based liquid biopsy informs optimal checkpoint-inhibitor drug choice” and “peripheral blood glycoproteomic biomarkers as a powerful new tool for the detection of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.”
Jennifer joins Anzu Partners as an Executive in Residence.
As a private debt and equity investor and as a CFO partnering with business leaders on their strategic plans, Jennifer invested in and operated businesses as well as selected and supported key leaders. Jennifer's work includes private equity and debt investing at a family of BDC funds, CFO of a MedTech business with breakthrough technology, leadership roles in leveraged lending and for the $4.7 billion small business credit portfolio at National City Bank, debt arrangement at Morgenthaler Partners, founding executive director of the Aspen Institute Finance Leaders Fellowship, and CFO/COO of a national environmental-focused foundation with over $3 billion AUM.
She also served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army’s Medical Service Corps. She studied economics and some philosophy for her bachelor’s degree from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and her MBA is from Case Western Reserve University.
Courtney Fabian, Executive Assistant
Courtney joins Anzu Partners as an Executive Assistant under Business Services, based in Tampa, FL.
In her role, Courtney supports the day-to-day operations for Partners and Principals. Prior to joining Anzu, Courtney was an Executive Assistant at McKinsey and Company supporting Partners and Professional Development Managers, and has previously worked in a non-profit organization building programs within the community.
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
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The information contained in this newsletter is being provided by Anzu Partners for informational purposes only. The information was obtained from various sources, but Anzu Partners cannot assure its accuracy. This is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation for an offer to buy an interest in any fund managed by Anzu Partners. Any such offer or solicitation will only be made to qualified potential investors pursuant to a private placement memorandum. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss.
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