UK-based Ilika, a developer of solid-state battery technology, successfully completed a £15-million (US$19-million) equity placement to support its growth strategy. Ilika launched its cm-scale Stereax technology for industrial wireless sensors in 2016 and followed up with mm-scale micro-batteries for miniature medical devices in 2019.

In response to demand from the automotive and consumer electronics sectors, with £5 million (US$6.2 million) in grant support from the UK Government’s Faraday Battery Challenge Fund, it has extended its product roadmap to develop large-format Goliath pouch cells.

Ilika currently produces its Stereax batteries on a pilot line in Southampton, UK. It now intends to implement a partnering model with one or more third-party fabrication facilities (fabs) to produce Stereax at scale. This equity placing will be used to purchase manufacturing equipment which Ilika will install in its selected fab for it to be operated on demand.

Ilika will continue to receive orders from its customers and, where appropriate, will outsource wafer production to the fab to allow it to fulfil larger orders.

The £15-million equity funding has been provided by a combination of existing and new UK-based institutional shareholders.

Ilika Technologies Ltd was founded in 2004 as a spin-out from the School of Chemistry at the University of Southampton. The company has secured commercial partnerships with a portfolio of blue-chip companies including Asahi Kasei, Shell, Applied Materials, Toyota and Murata Manufacturing. Ilika is headquartered in the UK and has operations in the US, China and Israel.