Antora Energy, a developer of long-duration energy storage technology, announced the close of a $550 million Series C funding round on July 30. The oversubscribed round was co-led by G2 Venture Partners and Eclipse, with participation from both new investors including Ribbit Capital, Salesforce Ventures, and Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures, as well as existing backers such as Decarbonization Partners and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
The company’s thermal battery system uses heated solid carbon blocks to store energy as heat, which can be converted back to electricity on demand. This technology addresses the limitations of conventional lithium-ion batteries, which typically provide 2-4 hours of storage duration. Long-duration energy storage refers to systems capable of 10 or more hours of discharge, with applications spanning multiple days, weeks, months, and seasons. Antora’s approach is designed to store excess wind and solar power generated during low-demand periods and release it when needed.
Antora has received prior government support through the U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA-E office, including a $7.9 million grant in 2019 under the DAYS program and a $14.5 million grant in 2024 under the SCALEUP initiative. The company previously closed a $150 million Series B round in 2024. According to the company, a thermal battery project in South Dakota representing 5 gigawatt-hours of storage capacity was completed in 12 months from construction start to commissioning.
The new funding will support large-scale project deployments across the country, expansion of production capacity, and establishment of a second manufacturing facility in the United States. Antora is headquartered in California and emphasizes employment opportunities in manufacturing trades. The company’s technology has applications beyond grid storage, including use in industrial processes for chemicals, food production, steelmaking, and data centers, with a pilot project underway with New York utility Con Edison.
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