Vimano is a Bengaluru-based deep-tech startup building PFAS-free, ion-selective nanotech membranes for the electrochemical devices that power the energy transition - redox flow batteries, AEM electrolyzers, and hydrogen fuel cells. Its proprietary membrane platform tackles the ion-crossover problem that limits efficiency in long-duration energy storage and green hydrogen, and it also adapts the same polymer-film science to thermal management films for satellites. The company's stated goal is to sit inside 1 out of every 2 large-scale energy storage devices, electrolyzers and fuel cells on the planet.
XL Batteries is a Marlborough, Massachusetts startup building an Organic Flow Battery for grid-scale, long-duration energy storage. Spun out of Columbia University chemistry research, the company uses proprietary organic molecules dissolved in pH-neutral water instead of vanadium in acid - producing a non-flammable, non-toxic, non-corrosive battery assembled from commodity pumps, tanks and tubes. The pitch: safe, scalable storage that can run for 10, 20, even 50 hours by simply enlarging the tanks, at costs targeted below lithium-ion for long durations.
Form Energy is an American energy-storage company building iron-air batteries that store electricity for 100 hours - multiple days - at roughly one-tenth the cost of lithium-ion. Founded in 2017 by a group of storage veterans, the company uses 'reversible rusting' of cheap, abundant iron to let renewable grids stay reliable through long stretches of low wind and sun. Its first high-volume factory, Form Factory 1, sits on the site of the former Weirton Steel mill in West Virginia, and its batteries are now being deployed with utilities including Great River Energy, Xcel Energy, Georgia Power and Dominion Energy.
Quino Energy is a clean-tech startup commercializing aqueous organic flow batteries that store electricity in water-soluble quinone molecules instead of vanadium or lithium. Spun out of Harvard University in 2021, the company makes a low-cost, non-flammable organic electrolyte - derived from inexpensive coal-tar dyestuff chemicals through a zero-waste, continuous-flow process - that drops into existing vanadium flow battery hardware. The result targets long-duration grid and commercial energy storage at roughly a quarter the cost of vanadium, with a degradation rate about ten times slower than lithium iron phosphate.
Advanced Battery Concepts is a Clare, Michigan battery maker that did something contrarian: instead of chasing lithium, it went back to lead-acid and reinvented it. Its patented GreenSeal bipolar architecture cuts lead content while boosting cycle life, and the company has licensed the design to global battery giants like Clarios, EnerSys, Exide, Crown and Trojan. With its EverGreenSeal line and BatteryBarn utility systems, ABC builds non-flammable, fully recyclable, domestically manufactured energy storage for critical infrastructure and the grid.