Portable battery OEM makes North America move

Photo: Instagrid

Instagrid, a Germany-based manufacturer of portable battery energy storage systems (BESS), is to move into North American following the completion of a $95 million (€87 million) Series C funding round.

Rich Romer, formerly of Siemens and Watts Fuel Cell Corporation, will lead the company in the US as CEO, with further appointments to be made in the future.

Instagrid said it will open new offices in North America following the move, and will launch new products specifically for the US and Canadian markets.

The company, which more than doubled its revenue in 2023, said the funding will also enable it to increase production and expand its mobile power solutions to decarbonise off-grid power.

The funding round was led by venture capital firm Teachers’ Venture Growth (TVG), while Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) also took part.

Existing investors Energy Impact Partners, SET Ventures, blueworld.group, and High-Tech Gründerfonds, as well as the chair of the advisory board, Pierre-Pascal Urbon, also contributed to the round.

Kieran Mahanty, TVG’s climate lead for EMEA, will join Instagrid’s Board.

Dr Sebastian Berning, Instagrid co-founder and co-CEO, said the time was right for the move after the company established itself in Europe; “Securing funding from such long-term strategic and experienced partners reflects our strong momentum and will enable us to build on the technology that underpins our success and bring more category-defining products to the market in the near future.”

Fellow co-founder and CEO Andreas Sedlmayr said the addition of two major investors will enable the company to expand its global footprint by “putting our technology in the hands of even more people.”

Avid Larizadeh-Duggan, senior managing director and head of TVG in EMEA, said, “More than 50 million small, non-road combustion engines are built each year – almost all of these should be replaced by battery systems which are lower carbon, lower total cost and create a far better work environment for operators.

“Instagrid is making this transition possible, for the first, by engineering battery systems which outperform the peak power of gas generators, making renewable energy accessible to businesses en masse.”

Founded in 2018, Instagrid’s portable power batteries are designed for use in the construction, events, emergency services and film industries respectively. 

Its first product, the Instagrid ONE, officially launched in 2020. Since then it has added the Instagrid LINK to its portfolio, with the Instagrid MOVE unit set to be launched soon.