The Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) today announces the first companies to have been awarded funding through the DRIVE35 Scale-up Fund – the government-funded programme delivered in partnership with the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), APC, and Innovate UK.
Two large-scale manufacturing projects have secured a share of £22 million in government matched support, bringing the total investment to over £44 million.
Altilium Metals, demonstration-scale manufacturing of low-carbon recycled battery materials for the UK EV supply chain.
Surface Transforms, scaling manufacturing of ultralow-emission brake technologies for zero-emission vehicles.
The innovative Scale-up Fund, which is delivered through the government’s DRIVE35 programme, is designed to bridge the gap between innovation and transformation. This critical phase of product or process development is filled with inherent risk and often referred to as the valley-of-death by businesses large and small.
It requires significant amounts of investment to ensure an already successfully validated business plan becomes a reality.
Funded by the Department for Business and Trade and delivered in partnership with the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK and Innovate UK, the DRIVE35 Scale-Up Fund offers grants of between £2.5m to £20m to UK-registered businesses to enable rapid scale-up of essential zero-emission vehicle technologies.
The funding stream has been specifically designed to overcome the inherent risks of the scale-up phase by supporting the development of new pilot-scale and demonstration-scale first-of-a-kind production processes and facilities and encourage investment, public and private sector, enabling safe passage through the valley-of-death.
As soon as the grant is approved the successful applicant is provided with an offer in principle, enabling them to reach out to other investors to raise additional funds.
To learn more about the fund and express an interest in applying for future rounds of funding, visit: Scale-up Fund – DRIVE35 – Advanced Propulsion Centre
