Funding charges up battery maker

BUSINESS angel syndicate Par Equity and Scottish Enterprise have together pumped £600,000 into an Edinburgh-based battery maker to help it develop components for hybrid cars and wind turbines.

Dukosi – which is chaired by Par Equity partner Ian Irvin, who floated electronics firm Magnum Power and Taiwan property developer AMZ Holdings – will receive £200,000 to develop a prototype.

A further £400,000 is available once the firm starts working with potential customers.

Dukosi chief executive Stephen Churcher said its invention will help batteries become “safer and more efficient”, in turn making electric cars cheaper and giving renewable energy companies a way of storing power until it is needed.

Par Equity partner Paul Munn said: “Dukosi’s technology is a good example of how a relatively-small Scottish business has the potential to make a global impact. This is a relatively early-stage investment, but Dukosi holds out the prospect of a tremendous success.”

In a separate deal, Velocita Energy Developments – owned by private equity firm Riverstone, at which former BP chief executive Lord Browne is a partner – has bought Greenock-based 2020 Renewables from Alan Baker and Steve Cowie for an undisclosed sum. Baker and Cowie will remain with the business.

News of the two deals came ahead of figures out today from trade body Scottish Renewables, which will show £794 million was invested in Scotland’s renewable energy sector last year.

The total fell from a record £1.1 billion in 2010 when the commissioning of Eon’s Robin Rigg wind farm in the Solway Firth led to a spike in the total.