The Austin Technology Incubator Graduates Clean Energy Member Company, Anzode, Inc.
The Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), a not-for-profit arm of The University of Texas at Austin, announced today that its member company, Anzode, Inc., will graduate June 30th, 2010, six and one half months after joining the incubator on December 14th, 2009.
Austin, Texas (PRWEB) June 10, 2010
The Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), a not-for-profit arm of The University of Texas at Austin, announced today that its member company, Anzode, Inc., will graduate June 30th, 2010, six and one half months after joining the incubator on December 14th, 2009.
Anzode formed in 2004 to develop, produce and market energy storage solutions using its patented long-life rechargeable stabilized zinc electrode technology. Anzode’s proprietary zinc electrode, originally developed at New Zealand’s Massey University, has a long cycle life that enables commercial application of zinc’s high energy density battery chemistry. Commercial viability of rechargeable zinc was previously impractical as the traditional zinc electrode has a limited cycle life.
In their time at the incubator, Anzode forged a bridgehead into the Texas clean energy community, established connections in the Texas investment community and refined their pitch with the help of ATI’s directors and staff. Among the connections made was becoming an affiliate of UT’s Center for Electrochemistry after meeting Jeremy P. Meyers, Assistant Professor Mechanical Engineering / Material Science & Engineering. “On our own it is unlikely that we could have had as much exposure to the right people at the right time as that afforded by ATI,” said Chris Officer, founder, president and CEO of Anzode.
The most fundamental shift Anzode made as a result of their relationship with the ATI is a refocus of its business model from a vertically integrated battery company to a material sciences IP firm. Going forward the company will focus on bringing its rechargeable zinc to market by licensing and partnering with existing battery manufacturers, a move that will significantly enhance Anzode’s capital efficiency.
“In a very fundamental way the whole ATI experience enabled us to better understand what our destiny should be,” Officer said, “and as a result we have refocused our strategy on an outcome that is more aligned with both our DNA and our investors’ expectations.”
Anzode was a member of the ATI-Clean Energy Incubator and worked primarily with its co-director, Mitch Jacobson. “Mitch has been great,” Officer said. “He worked very hard for us. He delivered as promised and you can’t ask for more than that.”
“We were very pleased to work with Chris and his team in helping them grow their company and formulate a strategy going forward,” Jacobson said of his time with Anzode. “We will continue to engage with them and wish them the best of luck in the future.”
Anzode is the seventh company to graduate from the Incubator since January of this year. A formal ceremony is planned for early 2011.
About the Austin Technology Incubator
The Austin Technology Incubator is a nonprofit unit of The University of Texas at Austin that harnesses business, government and academic resources to provide strategic counsel, operational guidance and infrastructure support to its member companies to help them transition from early stage ventures to successful technology businesses. Since its founding in 1989, ATI has worked with over 200 companies, helping them raise close to $750 million in investor capital. ATI is a key program of the IC2 Institute at The University of Texas at Austin. For more information, visit http://www. ati. utexas. edu (http://www. ati. utexas. edu).
About Anzode, Inc.
Anzode Inc. was formed in 2004 to develop, produce and market energy storage solutions, based on patented long-life rechargeable stabilized zinc electrode technology. Zinc, the safest and cleanest battery chemistry known, is used in over 80% of single-use batteries and is unique in rechargeable battery chemistries in that it can be used with multiple “partner” electrodes to create a variety of batteries: high energy density silver-zinc (AgZn); high power nickel-zinc (NiZn); and zinc-air (Zn-Air), considered the “holy grail” of rechargeable batteries for its very high energy density and power. For over 100 years rechargeable battery designers have recognized the energy density advantages of zinc as a battery chemistry, but the limited cycle life of the traditional zinc electrode has restricted the use of these systems. Anzode’s zinc electrode exhibits the long cycle life needed to open up the commercial application of this high energy density battery chemistry. The proliferation of large mobile devices and motive power applications, new off-grid and on-grid energy storage demands, and growing environmental, health & safety concerns are combining to create a strong demand for a clean, high energy density battery that Anzode’s zinc technology can deliver. For more information on Anzode, visit http://www. anzode. com (http://www. anzode. com).
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