The European Investment Bank (EIB) has agreed to provide €15m financing to Skeleton Technologies, a developer of graphene-based ultracapacitors from Estonia.
The ‘quasi-equity’ financing is expected to enable the company to take up research and development and further improve its products and systems.
Skeleton Technologies’ customer-based includes the German automotive industry, The European Space Agency and other engineering companies around the world.
The company plans to ramp up investments in manufacturing and R&D to increase competitive advantage at component level. By making investments, it plans to become a full-scaled energy storage systems provider, offering end-to-end hybrid energy solutions to its customers.
It also plans to launch an electrode production facility near Dresden, Germany, create employment opportunities locally.
Previously, the company had raised a capital of about €26.7m from EIB and with the present quasi-equity financing, the total financing to Skeleton has reached €41.7m.
EIB’s vice president Jan Vapaavuori said: “The EIB financing will provide Skeleton a powerful financial boost to accelerate production, R&D and commercial development with a view to deploy its graphene-based ultracapacitors not only across the European continent, but also globally.
“It will allow the company to fully exploit its leading scientific knowledge in the field, gain critical mass and become significant in a market with huge potential. Given Skeleton’s cutting-edge technology and the eco-friendliness of its products, it’s only logical that EIB supports such European innovators.”
Skeleton Technologies’ CEO, Taavi Madiberk, said: “This EIB loan is an important milestone for the company, not only providing more financial power to achieve our goals, but also serving as a sign of trust for our customers and partners.
“The loan will enable us to focus our efforts on bringing energy savings from our technology to transportation and power grids, where reducing CO2 emissions will have the largest impact both financially and environmentally.
“The Investment Plan for Europe was the perfect way for us to finance pan-European activities and we plan to significantly increase our headcount and expand activities in Estonia and Germany.”
Image: EIB offers €15m loan to Skeleton Technologies. Photo: Courtesy of Skeleton Technologies.