iPod pioneer Tony Fadell is backing a battery company that says it’s found a way to store more energy using silicon scrap waste.
Fadell’s investment firm, Future Shape, is among the contributors to Advano’s $18.5 million Series A funding round. It’s Fadell’s first battery investment.
Silicon could be key to building more powerful batteries. The anodes of most existing systems are made with graphite. But silicon can hold far more lithium. The problem is silicon anodes tend to swell and crack. That’s set off a race among companies including Sila Nanotechnologies Inc. to figure out how to make them work better. Advano says it has a solution.
“Everyone wants at least some kind of silicon anode in the battery for better density, a better battery and lighter battery packs,” Fadell, who also helped invent the iPhone and was a co-founder of Nest Labs, said in an interview. “Advano has fulfilled the promise.”
Silicon can store 10 times more energy than graphite. That means less material is needed per battery, shrinking the size and cost of systems.
Advano designed its silicon anode material to be incorporated into existing battery designs, said Alexander Girau, the company’s founder. Part of the New Orleans-based company’s strategy is using silicon scraps left over from semiconductor and solar manufacturing. That enables it to save money and sidestep silicon manufacturing.
The funding will help Advano develop a pilot manufacturing facility and expand its staff by 50%. It also announced a partnership with battery-material supplier Mitsui Kinzoku of Japan. Other investors in the round include Mitsui Kinzoku SBI Material Innovation Fund, Thiel Capital and Y Combinator.
Semi-final fixtures
Portugal v Chile, 7pm, today
Germany v Mexico, 7pm, tomorrow
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The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
The struggle is on for active managers
David Einhorn closed out 2018 with his biggest annual loss ever for the 22-year-old Greenlight Capital.
The firm’s main hedge fund fell 9 per cent in December, extending this year’s decline to 34 percent, according to an investor update viewed by Bloomberg.
Greenlight posted some of the industry’s best returns in its early years, but has stumbled since losing more than 20 per cent in 2015.
Other value-investing managers have also struggled, as a decade of historically low interest rates and the rise of passive investing and quant trading pushed growth stocks past their inexpensive brethren. Three Bays Capital and SPO Partners & Co., which sought to make wagers on undervalued stocks, closed in 2018. Mr Einhorn has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the poor performance this year, while remaining steadfast in his commitment to value investing.
Greenlight, which posted gains only in May and October, underperformed both the broader market and its peers in 2018. The S&P 500 Index dropped 4.4 per cent, including dividends, while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, an early indicator of industry performance, fell 7 per cent through December. 28.
At the start of the year, Greenlight managed $6.3 billion in assets, according to a regulatory filing. By May, the firm was down to $5.5bn.
