Batteristartupen Polarium is Sweden’s latest billion company

The pension company AMF is investing in the battery startup Polarium. Thus, the company becomes Sweden’s latest “unicorn”.

AMF invests SEK 955 million in Polarium. In a press release, the company says that the investment was made at a valuation of one billion dollars, which means that the company can call itself a “unicorn”.

Polarium was formed in 2015 and develops solutions with energy storage in the form of lithium-ion batteries. From the beginning, the company has mainly focused on the telecom sector, where lithium-ion batteries can replace diesel generators or lead-acid batteries as reserve power.

Ny Teknik has, for example, reported on the company’s collaboration with Telia, where two mobile network stations in the Stockholm area will be equipped with lithium-ion batteries that can both provide backup power and deliver support services to the electricity network.

– Now with AMF as a partner, we are well equipped to strengthen our position in the increasingly important market for energy optimization, while we continue to take ground in reserve power, says Stefan Jansson, Polarium’s CEO, in a press release.

Newly opened factory in South Africa

Energy optimization is a new business area for Polarium. As the share of renewable energy in energy systems increases, energy storage becomes increasingly important to balance supply and demand. By adding energy optimization to the control system, electricity can be stored in the batteries when prices are low and then discharged when it is expensive to buy electricity from the electricity grid.

This is what the battery modules that will be installed on Telia’s network stations look like. So far, they are in Polarium’s lab in Kista. Photo: Polarium

AMF now takes a place in the ownership group, which includes Vargas Holding, Roosgruppen and Beijer Ventures, among others.

Stefan Jansson says Today’s industry that a listing of the company is not excluded.

– We make the company fully listed this year. It enables us to carry out an IPO whenever we want – but we have not made a decision if and when, he tells the newspaper.

Polarium uses lithium-ion cells of the NMC or NCA type and today buys the cells from Samsung and soon also Northvolt. In factories in Vietnam, Mexico and the newly opened plant in South Africa, the cells are assembled into a battery pack, equipped with control systems and final tested.

Ny Teknik interviewed Stefan Jonsson in the podcast Everything you need to know about new technology in May 2021.


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