Nanotechnology startup Vimano has raised Rs 25 crore in a seed funding round led by Ankur Capital, marking the first investment from the early-stage venture firm’s newly launched third fund.

The funding will assist Vimano in creating membranes that can reduce costs and enhance the performance of clean energy systems, such as batteries for energy storage and equipment for generating green hydrogen.

It also aims to launch pilot projects with key partners, grow its workforce, and establish scalable production methods for its membranes.

Established in 2019 by materials scientists Murari Ramkumar and Nagesh Kini, Vimano creates ion-conductive membranes aimed at lowering costs and enhancing the efficiency of clean energy technologies. The technologies consist of redox flow batteries, electrolyzers for producing green hydrogen, and Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells, which find applications in transportation, stationary power systems, and portable electronics.

Vimano asserts that its membrane platform tackles significant obstacles in the energy transition, particularly the expensive production of green hydrogen and the absence of cost-effective long-duration energy storage (LDES).

“Over the past five years, we have worked relentlessly to develop a platform that can significantly improve efficiency and reduce costs for long-duration energy storage and green hydrogen production. This investment will enable us to accelerate our commercialization efforts and bring our high-performance membranes to market at scale,” says Murari Ramkumar, CEO of Vimano.

In August 2024, Ankur Capital, known for supporting startups in agritech, climate, and deeptech, secured new capital commitments from current investors British International Investment (BII) and MacArthur Foundation for its third fund, aiming for a corpus of Rs 1,200 crore ($150 million). It had also secured funding from the US International Development Finance Corporation and the Self-Reliant India Fund.

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“We are excited to partner with Vimano as they hit a crucial inflection point. We believe Vimano’s membranes can reshape how energy is stored across multiple formats — with green hydrogen alone projected to grow nearly 10X to over $60 billion by 2030,” says Ritu Verma, managing partner at Ankur Capital.