Business
When Akshay Singhal decided to found a graphene startup back in 2014, he had no idea that the deep tech startup, Log 9 Materials, would end up developing a product which is capable of replacing and surpassing combustion engines and electric-vehicle batteries (EVBs). Akshay and his team intend to disrupt the energy sector with this product, a graphene-enhanced aluminium fuel cell, a green, quiet, and powerful alternative to conventional sources of energy.Akshay Singhal was studying at IIT Roorkee when he discovered graphene. After returning from a short internship in Canada, he decided that he wanted to found a graphene startup. He eventually called this graphene startup Log 9 Materials. Luckily, Akshay's parents were very supportive, and helped him in every way that they could to start his company. After setting up a laboratory in his family's warehouse, his deep tech startup was invited to join the first batch of startups at TIDES, an incubator program within IIT Roorkee. It was with this support from IIT Roorkee and his parents that Log 9 Materials was able to launch its first product, PPuF, India's first graphene product which is a plug-on graphene filter for cigarettes.After launching PPuF, Akshay started talking to investors. He had proven that he was serious about being an entrepreneur, and the byproduct of this dedication to his startup, PPuF, convinced some investors in Delhi NCR to invest in his deep tech startup. With these funds, they were sit down and try to figure out what to develop next. They came up with more than a dozen different applications for graphene, but settled on two specific ones: cleaning up oil spills, and enhancing aluminium fuel cells. By the time they had settled on these two applications for graphene, however, they had already run out of money. Luckily they were able to raise another round from eight people worth $500,000 With newly injected funds and a pretty good idea of what they wanted to do, the Log 9 Materials team was able to build an extremely impressive graphene-enhanced aluminium fuel cell which was capable of powering a car in less than two months. Akshay believes that what Log 9 Materials was able to produce in this period of the startup's journey increased its valuation of $50 million. Log 9 Materials' graphene-enhanced aluminium fuel cell car, Ranger, caught the eyes of investors when Akshay and his team showed it off at the India-UK FutureTech Festival. However, what he soon discovered was that investors thought that the technology Log 9 Materials had developed was too good to be true. Eventually though, Sequoia India asked an American expert to validate Log 9 Materials' technology. This expert was impressed by what he saw, and told Sequoia India that Log 9 Materials was worth investing in. Eventually, this led to Log 9 Materials raising a $3.5 million Series A round from Sequoia India's Surge program, as well as Exfinity Venture Partners.One of the reasons that Sequoia India and Exfinity Venture Partners decided to invest so much money in Log 9 Materials is that the technology they are trying to bring to the market is incredible. Their aluminium fuel cell uses aluminium as a source of fuel. Aluminium is a very green, safe source of fuel, unlike fossil fuels and hydrogen fuel. Not only that, but India has huge stockpiles of aluminium, and so if it is adopted by the world as a fuel source, India would become an exporter of this fuel.In the comings months and years, Log 9 Materials intends to bring their aluminium fuel cells to the market. With the help of Sequoia India's Surge program, all of their investors, and the Indian government, Log 9 Materials hopes to irreversibly disrupt and revolutionize India's energy sector. If you enjoyed this podcast and want to know more about Akshay Singhal and his graphene startup, Log 9 Materials, please feel free to make use of the links below: