In a seed funding round led by Speciale Invest and including Antares Ventures, the deeptech startup Sthyr has raised $1 million.
According to a press release from Sthyr, the money raised will be utilized for product piloting and scaling up as well as additional research and development.
Sthyr was co-founded in 2024 by Gunjan Kapadia, Akhil Kongara, and Muhammad Hamdan with the goal of addressing the curtailment of renewable energy by providing affordable, sustainable, and safe energy storage solutions. The startup is creating 10 kW zinc regeneration units and modular 200 kWh battery systems.
Using zinc-air battery technology, the Chennai-based startup stores excess energy as metallic zinc that can be used when renewable energy generation is low. The company targets communities that depend on diesel power, grid operators, and renewable energy companies. It highlights how its technology, which has earned numerous patents, is inexpensive, safe, and wholly domestically developed.
Sthyr claims that its architecture decouples energy and power components, allowing for modular deployments at different scales, and that it employs non-flammable, water-based electrolytes to enhance safety.
“The ideal use cases for this technology include grid operators, asset management companies with large renewable energy farms, microgrids in remote areas, and potentially defence sector and island communities relying on diesel power,” said Gunjan Kapadia.
As a potential substitute for lithium-ion batteries, Sthyr claims that its batteries should provide a levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for extended storage.
