Turntide Technologies, a developer of breakthrough electrification and sustainable operations technologies, has announced it has secured $80 million in equity funding, valuing the company over $1 billion, making it one of a handful of climate tech companies to achieve unicorn status in the first half of 2022.
The funding will enable the company, which has already invested $100m in the UK, to further scale its operations located in North East England, to support the electrification of commercial and industrial vehicles.
Having acquired three specialist companies in the region in the past 12 months, Turntide brings together world-class powertrain components that de-risk vehicle manufacturers’ electrification efforts.
It is now planning to grow its operations in Sunderland and Gateshead and incorporate into its EV offering a version of its patented environmentally friendly switched reluctance motor (SRM), which is currently used for built environment applications such as HVAC systems.
Turntide’s vision is to scale EV powertrain solutions with minimal impact on the environment, even upstream in the supply chain. Its magnet free SRM uses none of the rare earth metals that feature in the permanent magnet motors that currently dominate EVs.
Increasingly ambitious net zero goals have driven demand for energy-efficient electrification solutions, but shortages of critical minerals have constrained supplies.
Turntide’s SRMs are manufactured entirely with common materials, avoiding the rare earth metals that power permanent magnet motors and are environmentally destructive to mine. This shrinks the environmental footprints of the motors and reduces supply chain disruptions to their production.
Turntide CEO and Chairman Ryan Morris, said:
“This latest round of funding will support the integration of our motors into our UK-based EV powertrain offering that will be exported worldwide to support our collective net-zero targets. The confidence of our investors is a major endorsement of our vision and technologies, highlighting our ability to raise money in a challenging economic environment.
Limited supplies of rare earth metals like neodymium are significant and growing roadblocks to decarbonising vehicles. Turntide is leading the way in applying magnet-free SRMs to the built environment, and we envision this superior motor technology will accelerate the electrification of all forms of vehicles.”
Turntide’s award-winning Technology for Sustainable Operations and Electrification dramatically reduces carbon emissions and improves energy savings for building operations, agriculture, equipment, and commercial and industrial vehicles. Turntide holds more than 150 patents for these technologies, and customers include JLL, XNRGY, Hitachi Rail, and JCB.
Participation in the round includes new investments from OGCI Climate Investments (OGCI CI) and SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust (SEEIT), with follow-on investments from Fifth Wall and Meson Capital’s Captain Planet LP fund. This funding brings the total amount of capital raised to $485 million.
Turntide is also backed by a global coalition of climate-focused investors, including Amazon Climate Pledge Fund, JLL, BMW i Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Robert Downey Jr.’s FootPrint Coalition, and Keyframe Capital.
Ryan continued
“Addressing climate change is more urgent than ever, and we are grateful to work with an investor base that is committed to achieving meaningful, near-term emissions impact. Even in the face of global economic uncertainty and supply chain upheaval, the market demand for Turntide’s sustainability solutions has enabled us to secure new investments. This capital will accelerate and further scale our efforts to decarbonise the world’s most energy-intensive industries.”
Jonathan Maxwell, CEO of Sustainable Development Capital LLP, Investment Manager of SEEIT said:
“SEEIT enables large-scale deployments of environmental infrastructure, so we are excited to invest in Turntide Technologies, a company with a range of market-tested products and top-tier customers from across the built environment, agriculture, and electric vehicles and equipment. Turntide has already begun scaling their solutions to larger deployments, and they are poised to support aggressive energy savings and the drive to net zero emissions for economies around the world.”
In the built environment, Turntide’s Smart Motor System™ integrates its Optimal Efficiency Motor™ with edge automation, controls, and cloud insights to improve energy savings and indoor air quality of buildings ranging from retail shops, industrial buildings to dairy barns to data centers. The company also offers Turntide for Strategic Machines™, a solution for HVAC manufacturers to transform their equipment into intelligent, efficient systems that enable new business models for the OEMs.
Greg Smithies, Partner and Co-Lead of the Climate Investment team at Fifth Wall said
“Turntide is tackling challenges that are seemingly insurmountable. Decarbonising the world’s economies requires a transformation of industrial and commercial systems, and Turntide delivers solutions that optimize energy use within these systems.”
Marc Van Den Berg, Managing Director, Ventures at OGCI CI said:
“Turntide’s mission to optimise energy use in the world’s most carbon-intensive sectors aligns with OGCI Climate Investments’ mission. We invest in technologies in carbon-intensive sectors to deliver near-term greenhouse gas emissions reduction. Turntide’s solutions are driving down energy consumption and costs for hundreds of businesses around the world, and we’re excited to partner with them to accelerate their expansion into new solutions and applications.”
Sergey Polikarpov, Managing Partner at Meson said
“Meson Capital invests in a future where hard-working people and the best technology win. We’re confident that Turntide has both. We also believe our planet needs help, and we know that Turntide’s success will make our world a better place.”
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Posted in: Automotive and Advanced Manufacturing, Electrification, Energy