Ilika PLC (AIM:IKA, OTCQX:ILIKF) CEO Graeme Purdy talked with Proactive about the company’s recent fundraising success and how the proceeds will be allocated across its core battery technologies.
The company recently closed a funding round with strong interest from both institutional and retail investors.
"Retail investors are really important to Ilika. They make up a substantial part of our investor base," said Purdy, highlighting Ilika’s commitment to offering equitable investment opportunities.
The raised funds will be split approximately one-third toward Ilika’s Stereax batteries, designed for miniature medical devices and specialist Internet of Things applications, and two-thirds toward its Goliath batteries, which are aimed at electric vehicles and consumer appliances.
On the Stereax side, Purdy said the funds will support a tech transfer process to US-based Sir Tech Medical, along with customer validation and testing. For Goliath, the company is progressing through a prototype design and build phase, with upcoming releases of the P1.5 10-amp prototypes targeted for later this summer.
Purdy noted that part of the new capital will go toward acquiring advanced testing equipment, enabling Ilika to collect necessary battery performance data as it approaches market readiness.
Watch the full video to hear how Ilika plans to support customers in both battery lines and drive adoption across key sectors.
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Proactive: Graeme, very good to speak with you. You raised more than expected in your recent fundraising. We chatted about it last Friday. Strong demand for the retail offer as well, which must be heartening.
Graeme Purdy: Yeah, absolutely, Stephen. Great to speak again. You know, retail investors are really important to Ilika. They make up a substantial part of our investor base. And whenever we raise money, we always like to make sure that retail investors receive an opportunity to invest on exactly the same basis as the institutional investors who contributed towards the placing that we closed last week. So, very heartening to see that degree of enthusiasm for the company's mission.
Proactive: Well, remind us again what they're investing in and what these funds are targeted at.
Graeme Purdy: Well, it's very straightforward. We've got two product lines, both solid-state batteries. On the one hand, we've got Stereax batteries, which are miniature batteries for active implantable medical devices and wireless sensors for specialist applications like the Internet of Things. And then, on the other hand, we've got our large format Goliath batteries for EVs—electric vehicles—and also for consumer appliances.
Now, the funds are effectively split about one one-third towards Stereax and two-thirds towards Goliath. With Stereax, we're right in the middle of a tech transfer to Sir Tech Medical, which is a US manufacturing partner. And the funds are going to help us support the remaining parts of that tech transfer. And we've got some testing and validation of the Stereax product before it gets released to customers for them to use.
And of course, some customer support, because, you know, when the customers get those batteries, we want to make sure that they get the best out of the products and integrate them as effectively as possible in their own product lines.
And then on the Goliath side, we're in the middle of that prototype design and build program that we've talked about on a few occasions over the last year or so. You know, the next major milestone—that's going to be the release of our P1.5 10-amp prototypes. As you know, we've already had some of those made at our facility, and we're testing batches at the moment, ready for their release later in the summer. We've got some testing equipment purchasing to follow through on, because as we get closer to market, closer to customer adoption of this product, actually, the amount of data that we need to generate to characterise the batteries increases. We've got to carry out that test program. And then, as in the case of Stereax, engage with customers and support them.
Proactive: Graeme, so it looks like a busy period ahead. And I'm sure you'll keep us updated with the news flow as it comes.