Portfolio – GraphEnergyTech £1 million investment

Frontier IP, a specialist in commercialising intellectual property, today announces that portfolio company GraphEnergyTech (or the "Company") has raised £1 million through the Company's first external equity funding round.

The fundraising was led by Aramco Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of Aramco, the world's leading integrated energy and chemicals company. Frontier IP, a GraphEnergyTech co-founder, now holds a 23.97 per cent equity stake.

Proceeds will be used to accelerate development and scale up of GraphEnergyTech's advanced high-conductivity graphene electrodes.

The technology's initial application is for use in solar cells, where graphene can replace silver electrodes. Silver is the most commonly used material for electrodes today, but the rising demand for solar power means global reserves could be exhausted by 2050, according to research from the University of New South Wales. It is expensive and mining can cause devastating environmental harm. GraphEnergyTech's electrodes also cost significantly less to manufacture than silver electrodes.

Other applications for GraphEnergyTech's technology include batteries, super capacitors, LED lighting and displays.

The Company was co-founded by Professor Michael Grätzel of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne ("EPFL"), inventor of the dye-sensitised solar cell, Professor Andrea Ferrari, founder and director of the University of Cambridge Graphene Centre, and Frontier IP. Professor Grätzel is ranked among the world's most cited scientists across all fields and is behind more than 120 patents resulting from his research.

Dr Thomas Baumeler, GraphEnergyTech's CEO, said: "We are very happy with the results of the fundraising and the investment from Aramco Ventures. The money will allow us to take development of our advanced graphene electrodes to the next level. They have the potential to play a part in the development of the next generation of solar cells."

Frontier IP Chief Executive Neil Crabb said: "The investment from Aramco Ventures, a world leader in energy investments, represents a strong endorsement of GraphEnergyTech's technology and the quality of its electrodes. We are excited by the Company's potential."

Aramco Ventures is the corporate venturing arm of Aramco, the world's leading fully integrated energy and chemical enterprise. Headquartered in Dhahran with offices in North America, Europe and Asia, Aramco Ventures' strategic venturing programs invest globally in start-up and high growth companies with technologies of strategic importance to its parent company, Aramco, primarily supporting its operational decarbonization, new lower-carbon fuels businesses, and digital transformation initiatives. Aramco Ventures also operates Prosperity7, the company's disruptive technologies investment program.

GraphEnergyTech has developed and patented a novel process to integrate graphene electrodes into solar cells replacing silver and other precious metals while retaining or improving power conversion efficiencies and reliability. The company is now working with partners to scale this technology and bring the cost and performance benefits to all types of solar cells and beyond.

Other potential applications of the technology include batteries, super capacitors, LED lighting and displays.

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