Meine Electric Raises ₹6.7 Cr to Power Long-Duration Iron-Air Batteries in APAC

APAC’s first iron-air long-duration energy storage (LDES) innovator, Meine Electric, has raised $750,000 (~₹6.7 crore) in pre-seed capital from investors including Antler, Rebalance, Venture Catalysts, gradCapital, and AIC-AU Incubation Foundation (the incubator hosted by Anna University).

In a press release, Meine Electric said it raised funding from reputed angel investors, including industry veteran Alexander Hogeveen Rutter. This reflects the conviction of industry and academia in the technology. Moreover, the latest pre-seed capital will help accelerate the company’s transition from laboratory-scale prototypes to pilot-ready iron-air battery systems.

Explaining the new technology, Meine Electric said that while lithium-ion batteries can store power for only a few hours before becoming financially infeasible, its iron-air battery technology can provide a 16–24-hour battery solution. The company added that the technology is capable of being fully charged within 8 hours, matching the typical solar surplus window, making it a critical energy infrastructure that ensures round-the-clock (RTC) renewable energy coverage for current and future energy grids.

Founded in 2023 by Priyansh Mohan (metal-air technologist; Anna University graduate) and Stuti Kakkar (former BCG consultant; economist), Meine Electric has successfully demonstrated its proprietary iron-air battery technology as a long-duration solution capable of operating at less than $0.05/kWh (~₹4/kWh) levelised cost of storage.

Iron-air batteries are built from abundant raw materials, including iron, air, and water, and work on a reversible rusting process: during discharge, iron reacts with oxygen to form rust and release electricity; during charging, the reaction reverses to regenerate metallic iron. Unlike global peers, Meine Electric has developed technology capable of faster charge and discharge, enabling integration with solar-heavy grids.

About the Funding

Looking ahead, the funds raised in this round will be utilised to accelerate Meine Electric’s technology scale-up and commercialisation roadmap. The company is building a multi-kW grid-connected prototype, followed by larger pilot units, as part of its plan to deliver turnkey, containerised iron-air battery systems by 2027. A portion of the capital will also be directed towards strengthening the team, research infrastructure, and partnerships with Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and energy-intensive C&I customers for pilot adoption.

Meine Electric said it stands as the only player in APAC with a proven iron-air technology stack, achieving 4 patents granted, 7 international patents filed, and more in the pipeline, with chemistry performance proven against global benchmarks.

The company operates from a 5,000 sq ft facility in Chennai, actively being outfitted for pilot production, enabling the transition from lab prototypes to pilot-ready systems. The founding team brings 75+ years of combined experience and has spent the last three years refining the core iron-air chemistry, emerging from stealth with a stable, repeatable chemistry platform ready for scale-up and field validation.

Leadership View 

“India will win the energy transition when clean power becomes dispatchable, not intermittent. Our focus for the last three years has been to make iron-air chemistry stable and repeatable. Now we are proving it for the grid and C&I power requirements, building the evidence that iron-air storage can become a backbone asset for the world’s renewable-first future,” said Priyansh Mohan, Co-Founder and CEO, Meine Electric, commenting on the company’s roadmap.

“Lithium-ion has shown its capability in peaking and integrating renewables over short duration. However, as renewable penetration rises above 50%, long-duration energy storage is required to fully replicate the grid and system benefits of conventional generation. Having seen dozens of LDES technologies, Meine Electric is one of the strongest I have seen globally. Solutions like Meine Electric’s are already required for off-grid and replacing diesel gensets and will increasingly be required at the grid scale as renewable penetration continues to increase.”said Alexander Hogeveen Rutter, Third Derivative.

“What impressed us about Meine Electric is the depth of their electrochemical research paired with system-level execution - a team that has spent years turning a hard science problem into a repeatable, grid-ready solution. At Antler, we back founders building foundational infrastructure for the future, and we believe Meine can become a globally relevant platform for renewable-first power systems.” said Gowri Shankar Nagarajan, Associate Partner at Antler

“When we think about energy, generation usually takes centre stage – but true energy security demands storage. We’re all well aware how rapidly the world order is shifting and energy will become the single most powerful asset for any economy in the future. Thrilled to be part of Meine’s journey as they become critical enablers of renewable-heavy power grids,” said Aishwarya Malhi and Vikas Kumar, Co-founders at Rebalance.