MPG spin-off Batene secures €6 million for next development phase

To the point:

• €6 million in funding: Companies of the Schwarz Group and SPRIND support the MPG spin-off Batene in the next development phase of its battery technology.
• Industrial validation underway: Together with battery manufacturers and OEMs, the company aims to achieve a proof of concept for higher-performance and more resource-efficient battery cells.
• New current collector architecture: The 3D metal fleece developed at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research enables more efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly battery cells.

Against the backdrop of growing demand for battery storage systems, including for electric mobility, the development of more efficient and resource-efficient production concepts is becoming increasingly important. Batene’s technological approach addresses these challenges at a critical point within the battery cell – the current collector. The novel three-dimensional metal fleece was originally developed at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research. Its unique architecture enables significantly improved current distribution and material utilization compared to conventional metal foils. This creates the basis for more powerful, cost-efficient and resource-efficient battery cells.

“The current collector is a structural lever of the battery cell that has hardly been rethought so far. With our 3D electrodes, we are realising a new architecture in which the performance leap results from the interpenetration of the current collector with the storage material. With industrial validation, we are now setting out to prove that this approach also holds up under real production conditions”, comments Prof. Dr. Joachim Spatz, founder of Batene GmbH and Director at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research.

Funding paves the way for industrial validation

The recently secured funding of around €6 million will enable the company to consistently implement the next development step. With these funds, Batene GmbH will finance an industrial validation project and advance the external technical evaluation of the technology together with industry partners. Plans include the joint development and testing of battery cells. Different cell chemistries and material systems will be examined, including lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) cells. This will help demonstrate the broad technological and industrial applicability of the Batene technology. The aim is to reach key milestones by the end of 2026 and complete the validation by mid-2027. The funding will thus enable the transition from successful laboratory development to robust industrial testing. On this basis, the technology will be made accessible to industry partners worldwide and lay the foundation for subsequent scaling at industrial level.

The technology was already recognized as a breakthrough innovation by SPRIND at an early stage and supported with a start-up grant.

“Building a competitive European battery manufacturing base takes more than capacity. Those who only catch up remain dependent. Europe needs breakthrough innovations that set its own technological standards — and challenge industry to rethink established approaches. Batene does exactly that!,” explains Rafael Laguna de la Vera, Director of SPRIND.

More efficient battery cells through a new collector architecture

Technologically, Batene’s approach differs fundamentally from conventional battery concepts. The novel three-dimensional metal fleece replaces the metal foils made of copper or aluminum that are typically used today and is filled with the respective active materials of the anode and cathode. This improves electrical conductivity within the electrode as well as the mechanical bonding of the active materials. In combination with dry coating processes—which will also be extensively tested during the validation phase—the approach can eliminate the need for toxic solvents and PFAS-containing binders, the use of which is expected to be restricted in the European Union in the near future. Overall, the technology enables faster, less energy-intensive and potentially up to 30 percent more cost-efficient cell production while delivering higher performance.

“The funding enables us to comprehensively validate our technology under realistic industrial conditions for the first time,” says Christian Böhm, Managing Director of Batene GmbH. “Together with industry partners, we aim to demonstrate that higher-performance battery cells can be produced using significantly fewer resources.”

The spin-off Batene has been supported by Max Planck Innovation GmbH, the technology transfer organization of the Max Planck Society. Max Planck Innovation was responsible for patenting the underlying technology, licensing the intellectual property to the start-up, and supporting the spin-off process from the early concept phase through company formation to the ongoing financing rounds. The mission of Max Planck Innovation is to systematically transfer research results from the Max Planck Institutes into economic and societal applications.

“The successful financing marks an important milestone for Batene and confirms the strong interest in the technology from both industry and investors,” says Dr. Florian Kirschenhofer, Senior Start-up Manager at Max Planck Innovation. “We are particularly pleased that companies of the Schwarz Group have come on board as a long-term partner supporting the further transfer of the technology into industrial application.”