RCS - IP Group PLC - Portfolio company RFC Power signs JDA with Ceres

IPAnnouncement

11/11/2021 07:10

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RNS Number : 0734S  IP Group PLC  11 November 2021

 FOR RELEASE ON  11 November 2021

 

IP Group plc - Portfolio company RFC Power signs Joint Development Agreement
with Ceres Power

 

IP Group plc (LSE: IPO) ("IP Group" or "the Group"), the developer of
intellectual property-based businesses, is pleased to announce that RFC Power
Ltd ("RFC Power" or "the Company"), a long-duration energy storage company,
has signed a Joint Development Agreement with Ceres Power Holdings plc
("Ceres"), a global leader in fuel cell and electrochemical technology.

 

The joint development agreement will aim to improve and accelerate RFC Power's
technology through the use of Ceres' expertise in electrochemistry and device
engineering. Mark Selby, Chief Innovation Officer at Ceres, will join RFC
Power's board.

 

RFC Power, a spin-out from Imperial College London, aims to develop the
world's lowest cost flow battery - a hybrid between a fuel cell and a battery
that decouples power from energy. Its patented hydrogen manganese chemistry
has the potential to deliver low cost and high round-trip efficiency with an
extremely long cycle-life. IP Group has a fully diluted holding of 33.2% in
RFC Power.

 

Ceres is a world-leading developer of electrochemical technologies which has
recently joined the Long Duration Energy Storage Council
(https://www.ldescouncil.com/ (https://www.ldescouncil.com/) ), a CEO-led
organisation which is targeting ~10% of all energy being stored in greater
than eight-hour storage technologies, requiring 85-140TWh of deployed
capacity, in order to achieve grid net-zero by 2040.

 

Tim von Werne, CEO of RFC Power, said: "Energy storage is a critical component
of the transition to a low carbon energy system. This partnership with Ceres
Power will accelerate RFC's technology development and enable us to bring our
long duration energy storage technology to market at the pace required to meet
this global demand. We are delighted to welcome Mark Selby to our Board as we
start this next phase of our commercial progress."

 

Andrew Symes, Investment Manager at IP Group plc, said: "Our mission is to
identify the technologies which plug gaps in the transition to net zero and
build them into scalable businesses. Long duration storage is one of those
gaps and having identified RFC's distinctive hydrogen manganese system in
2018, we are delighted to see the progress with the Ceres collaboration
announced today."

 

In exchange for the work done under the agreement, Ceres will receive an 8.4%
shareholding in RFC Power. Ceres has the opportunity to assess RFC Power's
technology in this period and if the technology proves compatible to Ceres'
strategy, Ceres has a 12-month option to acquire the balance of the issued
share capital in the company for up to £25 million.

 

For more information, please contact:

 

 IP Group plc                                             www.ipgroupplc.com (http://www.ipgroupplc.com)
 Liz Vaughan-Adams, Communications                        +44 (0) 20 7444 0062/+44 (0) 7979 853802
 Charlotte Street Partners
 David Gaffney                                            +44 (0) 7854 609998
 Andrew Wilson                                            +44 (0) 7810 636995

 

Notes for editors

 

About IP Group

 

IP Group is a leading intellectual property commercialisation company which
focuses on evolving great ideas, mainly from its partner universities, into
world-changing businesses. The Group has pioneered a unique approach to
developing these ideas and the resulting businesses by providing access to
business building expertise, capital (through its 100%-owned FCA-authorised
subsidiaries IP Capital and Parkwalk Advisors), networks, recruitment and
business support. IP Group has a strong track record of success and its
portfolio comprises holdings in early-stage to mature businesses across life
sciences and technology. IP Group is listed on the Main Market of the London
Stock Exchange under the code IPO.

 

Group holdings in portfolio companies reflect the undiluted beneficial equity
interest excluding debt, unless otherwise explicitly stated.

 

For more information, please visit our website at www.ipgroupplc.com
(http://www.ipgroupplc.com/) .

About RFC Power
www.rfcpower.com (https://www.rfcpower.com/)

RFC Power specialises in developing novel flow battery chemistries for energy
storage systems. The core activities of RFC Power are the chemistry, cell
architecture and the optimisation of flow battery stack components.  RFC
Power is working with partners to build and market its storage systems making
use of existing production facilities, supplier networks and economies of
scale. The company was spun out from Imperial College's Departments of
Engineering and Chemistry by the institution's innovation arm in 2017.

ENDS

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