Hotly-tipped Turntide Technologies - the group bringing together three leading North East firms in the electric vehicle sector - secured $80m in investment to boost its presence in the region.
The company, whose investors include Amazon, Bill Gates and the actor Robert Downey Jr, launched a transportation division last year with an $100m investment that saw it acquire BorgWarner Gateshead, Sunderland’s Hyperdrive Innovation and Northumberland company Avid Technology.
The company specialises in developing powertrains that aim to support electrification efforts by transport companies.
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And after securing fresh investment from a range of finance companies, it is planning to grow its operations in Sunderland and Gateshead and develop new products for electric vehicles.
The finance package includes new investments from OGCI Climate Investments and SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust (SEEIT), with follow-on investments from Fifth Wall and Meson Capital’s Captain Planet LP fund. The new funding brings the total amount of capital raised by the company to $485m.
Newcastle's Connected Energy has attracted a further £15m from five new investors.
Well known brand names are among the investors backing the company. Caterpillar Venture Capital Inc., the Hinduja Group, Mercuria, OurCrowd and Volvo Energy have joined existing investors Engie New Ventures, Macquarie, and the Low Carbon Innovation Fund to give the backing which the firm says will enable it to scale up operations and move into utility scale developments.
The move now means Connected - which uses old car batteries to build commercial storage systems - has investors spanning battery supply to project deployment.
Matthew Lumsden, Connected's CEO, said: “We couldn’t be more pleased to welcome our new investors on board and look forward to forging a path to increasing the sustainability of both electric vehicles and grid connected energy storage. I’d also like to thank our fantastic team at Connected Energy whose continuing hard work and commitment is acknowledged by this investment.”
North Shields-based Q-Bot - a robotics firm that builds products for the construction industry - has secured £1.6m in a funding round.
Q-Bot says the funding, which has come primarily from existing investors and was led by EMV Capital, will allow it to ramp up rollout of its robot which remotely applies underfloor insulation beneath suspended floors.
The firm, which employs about 38 people at its Orion Business Park base, said the funding will help it meet rising demand for its products in the UK and overseas.
Peter Childs, chair of Q-Bot Ltd and professor at Imperial College London, said: "We are pleased that following the strategy review and changes to the company launched by the board in 2021, we are now seeing accelerated growth for the business in terms of sales, the on-boarding of a series of key partners and continued investor support.
"We recognise the challenges associated with rising energy bills and are fortunate to be part of worthwhile solutions to reducing energy demands and associated emissions and costs. We are looking forward to being able to offer our quality assured underfloor thermal insulation to even more homes in the coming year.”
