Liberty Mutual’s venture arm backs Antora

Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures joined Antora Energy’s $550 million Series C, appearing alongside Ribbit Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Activate Capital, John Doerr, Westly Group and StepStone Group as new investors in the oversubscribed round.

G2 Venture Partners and Eclipse co-led the round. Existing investors Decarbonization Partners, Impact Science Ventures, Trust Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Lowercarbon Capital also participated.

San Jose-based Antora Energy , founded in 2018, builds thermal batteries that store electricity as heat in solid carbon blocks and discharge it as heat or power. The company targets industrial customers and data centers with a system that does not rely on critical minerals and can be deployed relatively quickly. Antora recently brought a 5 GWh energy storage system online at POET’s bioprocessing facility in Big Stone City, South Dakota, moving from construction to energy delivery in under 12 months.

The funding will support additional deployments, a second U.S. manufacturing hub and supply-chain expansion. Antora’s San Jose factory has grown into a three-building campus and is one of the larger battery manufacturing facilities in the country.