London cleantech startup Powervault has raised £700,00 in less than four days on Crowdcube to ramp up its “aggressive” growth plan to take on Elon Musk’s Tesla.
The company will use the money to redesign its solar energy storage product in order to cut manufacturing costs by 20%, helping it to reach its target of selling 50,000 units by 2020.
As part of the raise, Powervault received £200,000 from the London Co-Investment Fund and £100,000 from the Future matters VC fund.
Powervault MD Joe Warren said: “This is a state-of-the-art, British designed product which will cut homeowners’ electricity bills, increase their energy security and help the UK cut carbon emissions. We’re already making sales and we aim to be a household name in five years, making a significant impact with products in 50,000 homes around the country.
“Tesla is raising awareness of home energy storage, exciting potential customers and helping to create a market. Their entry into the market demonstrates the scale of the business opportunity, with battery costs falling and up to 2 million UK homes forecast to have solar panels by 2020. The Powervault system has been designed specifically to meet the needs of British homeowners and is available today.”
Powervault says unlike Tesla, its product comes complete with batteries, a charger, an inverter and a control unit, which can be installed by an electrician in an hour and is compatible with all solar PV systems.
Prices start from £2,000.