The company is raising £150,000 for 5.6% of the company at a pre-money valuation of £8,013,410.
Levistor has developed a patented, flywheel energy storage technology with City University London to enable electric vehicles(EV) to get 100 miles of charge in 5 minutes. A viable demonstrator project has been completed with National Highways to illustrate the cost advantages of using flywheel technology versus traditional Lithium-ion batteries to store energy and then deliver ultra-rapid charging on-demand. The power loads required(up to 350kW) to deliver this charging cannot be provided by the existing power grid infrastructure which typically operates at 50kW loads.
The one liner…..Levistor is an opportunity/play on a massive structural shift in global transport through this decade.
Stats for your besties….
• 70% of all vehicles sold in 2030 will be electric vehicles (EVs) per IEA research
• The rush to produce batteries is dizzying; production capacity in 2020 was 631 GWh and consultants McKinsey believe that figure must hit nearly 3,000 GWh by 2030 (5x).
• IEA estimate 89% of current EV charging stations are private.
The Problem: The expansion of EV ownership will shift charging focus from private properties to public infrastructure, work places, highways etc. The management of this shift to public charging points requires power grid support/reinforcement. Existing power grids will need significant upgrade spends to manage the demand and power loads required for EV charging. Levistor research(PodPoint) cites a need for up to 65,000 locations on UK motorway routes alone to boost charging capacity on-site in one of two ways: i)use additional lithium-ion battery resources to store charges or ii) use fly-wheel technology which incurs a 50% lower life-cycle investment cost.
The Solution: Given the enormous battery stampede implicit in the growth statistics above, one can only imagine the demand for lithium-ion battery substitutes will already be particularly strong. Flywheel tech looks like an interesting sustainability/supply chain option and that’s before we even consider the cost advantage of flywheel tech. The major cost benefit of flywheel charging technology is driven by the attritional impact on traditional chemical/lithium batteries when they deliver big power loads. The accepted view is that flywheel units have twice the life cycle of batteries, 20 to 25 years. Sustainability also gets a tick as flywheel rotors (with Levistor’s breakthrough innovations on materials and magnets) store energy mechanically, not chemically, and can be recycled easily at end of life.
Sales: The company is in pre-revenue stage but commercial interest is strong from charge point manufacturers, industrial power users and infrastructure players(National Highways). £200k of pre-orders are projected in business plan for 2023 followed by 2024 commercial revenues annualising at £3.5 million and almost trebling to just under £10 million in calendar year 2026.
Opportunity: Local grid reinforcement in the UK alone of 10% of charging points is estimated to be an addressable market worth £1.7 billion.
The Team: A good mix of venture capital, engineering and technology experience plus track record of execution.
Valuation: Any valuation above £3-4 million in pre-revenue phase does require a strong belief in a structural growth story and a confidence that the technology wins big name customer support. The structural story is particularly strong but pre-order milestones in 2023 will be critical to sales and valuation momentum.
1. Founder/management team has good mix of industry and VC experience.
2. Non-metal/chemical energy storage solution is very interesting in a lithium starved world.
3. Cost benefits vs traditional li-ion batteries is outlined clearly in white papers/research
4. National Highways demo completed which sets up 2023 discussions for pre-orders nicely
5. Balance sheet has no debt and £690k equity previously raised.
6. Single unit, modular design is helpful inn sales discussions where consumer demand/grid usage is untested.
7. Levistor is exposed to a huge structural shift in global transport, investment.
1. Valuation is high for pre-revenue opportunity.
2. The solution faces potential competition from other technologies, including batteries themselves.
3. Production roll-out will require more capital £7 million indicated in jan 2024 business plan).
4. Business model: It is not clear who the actual end-customer will be – charge point manufacturers, EV manufacturers or infrastructure owners/investors?
5. Commercial pricing example, payment mechanism not clear – is there upfront capital lump sum, service agreement/revenues etc?
6. Threat of major power grids ultimately upgrading and solving the problem.
Levistor’s flywheel technology is an attractive solution to a significant charging/power mismatch prevalent on most major grid infrastructures. The cost benefits and non-lithium sustainability options to storing energy are powerful drivers for prospective customer decisions which gives Levistor a good chance of generating sales momentum in 2023-24 and generating higher valuations in subsequent funding rounds.
FINAL SCORE: 63