CellEra, a developer of platinum free fuel cell
technology, announced a $9.2 million investment round led by Vodafone Ventures,
a global venture capital arm of Vodafone Group, and Carmel Ventures, an
Israeli VC firm.
The two have joined hands with the company’s largest
shareholder Israel Cleantech Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on
backing Israel’s clean technology companies, as well as B-2-V Partners and
private investors.
“After a long period of exploration for innovative,
unique and disruptive renewable energy technologies, we believe we found all
these qualities in CellEra, which is our first investment in this field. We are
happy to join forces with Vodafone and the existing investors. Carmel
brings to CellEra strong expertise and worldwide ecosystem in the Telecom
industry which is CellEra’s target market,” said Ori Bendori, general
partner of Carmel Ventures who joined CellEra’s board.
“Beyond the available capital, Vodafone’s investment
will serve to facilitate our approach to the telecommunications market place,
and our ability to direct our cost-effective, clean-energy fuel cell technology
towards the requirements of global telecommunication operators,” said Ziv
Gottesfeld, CEO of CellEra.
While fuel cells have been recognized as a reliable
renewable power generation source allowing mobile network operators to reduce
power generation related emissions and end-of-life hazards, wide market
acceptance has been hampered to date by their high costs.
CellEra’s goal is to reduce these costs and allow a rapid
return on investment through the development and market introduction of a new
form of fuel cell technology, allowing the elimination of high-cost materials
and expensive hardware in the fuel cell stack.
CellEra’s introductory product is targeted at the USD 3 billion
telecommunications supplemental-power market, offering an affordable, clean and
safe alternative to lead-acid batteries and diesel generators.
By Telecomlead.com Team
editor@telecomlead.com
