Deeya Energy Receives Series B Funding; Names Vic Mahadevan As New CEO
Deeya Energy Inc., a clean energy technology company focused on developing and manufacturing novel energy storage systems, has received a $15 million Series B round investment, led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and including funds from existing investors BlueRun Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) and DFJ Element, to support the construction of its factory in Gurgaon, India and its continued R&D activities. As a result of the investment, Ravi Viswanathan, NEA Partner, will join the board of Deeya Energy.
"Deeya’s application of its proprietary L-Cell technology to create high-performance, low-cost energy storage solutions is among the most promising developments to date within the clean tech industry," said Viswanathan. "Power availability and quality will be increasingly important global issues, particularly critical in developing regions, and Deeya has an opportunity to address a broad range of market opportunities within that space."
Deeya L-Cells, described as a "flow battery," are said to offer superior charging and discharging performance compared to other batteries and to be significantly cheaper. The battery has tanks of electrolytes that effectively let the battery store more energy than normal batteries. The electrolytes flow or circulate through the system. The larger the tanks, the more electricity it can store. The batteries are for bulk energy storage and will serve as backup or emergency power sources. An individual flow battery can provide backup power for 8 to 16 hours and store several kilowatts of power. The electricity is discharged during peak demand periods.
L-Cells are estimated to be cost-competitive with lead-acid batteries, and about 10-20 times cheaper than NiMH, Li-lon and fuel cell options. Additionally, L-Cells are said to contain environmentally benign materials and to be infinitely recyclable, as opposed to the kinds of materials used in other batteries, such as lead-acid. The initial focus of the company is the Indian telecom infrastructure market.
Following the funding announcement, Deeya announced that Vic Mahadevan had been appointed to the position of President and CEO. Mahadevan most recently was a CEO of four year old NeoEdge Networks, where he repositioned the company and built a strong management team. Prior to that he was a CEO of Maxxan Systems, Inc., and Ivita. Mahadevan founded and built the Storage Division in Compaq Computer Corporation to a $4 billion unit.
