April 25 (Renewables Now) - The global battery storage sector raised USD 12.9 billion (EUR 12bn) in corporate funding in the first quarter of 2022, marking a 174% year-on-year increase, according to a new report by Mercom Capital Group.

The total amount was secured in 26 deals and represented a surge of 222% when compared to the USD 4 billion raised in the preceding quarter.

Venture capital (VC) funding for battery storage companies amounted to USD 1.1 billion, coming from 21 deals, and compares to USD 1 billion in 14 deals in the year-ago period. Quarter-on-quarter, VC funding was down by 28%.

Mercom’s data shows that 76 VC investors carried out battery storage funding transactions in January-March. The biggest deal was Canadian long-duration energy storage specialist Hydrostor Inc’s USD-250-million preferred equity funding from businesses within Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

Among the other top VC funding deals in the sector were a USD-215-million raising by German electrolyser maker Sunfire GmbH and a funding round of USD 200 million for Factorial Energy, a US start-up developing solid-state batteries.

Mercom tracked five battery storage merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions in the first quarter and 13 project acquisitions. Their values were not disclosed.

Announced public market and debt financing in the sector surged by 216% on the year to USD 11.7 billion.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.928)

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