Dynami, one of the lithium battery manufacturing companies in the Koffman’s Clean Energy Incubator program, has been on a roll as of late. Just in the last quarter, they were one of the recipients of FuzeHub’s 2023 Manufacturing Grants, received milestone-setting data reports, opened a new round of fundraising, received full funding to participate in an I-Corps course that included attending the Battery Show in Novi, MI, expanded their patent portfolio and grown their team.
With all of these updates happening at once, the high energy of the Dynami team is palpable. It’s difficult for even them to decide which accolade is most exciting.
“External recognition, [especially] when being in charge of a science-based start-up where it engulfs you into a very small world, all the signals from outside are very important,” Dynami’s CEO Sergio Baron remarks when discussing all of the recent momentous news coming from sources outside of the company and its mentors.
Receiving FuzeHub Manufacturing Award
Dynami is part of an unprecedented outcome from FuzeHub to award three Binghamton University related projects in the same round of manufacturing grants. Specifically for Dynami, receiving the $50,000 grant means they will be able to further their technical relationship with the NorthEast Center for Chemical Energy Storage (NECCES) under the partnership of Dr. M. Stan Whittingham in the development and testing of their full battery cells. Ultimately this will allow Dynami to validate their lithium battery cell technology at the NECCES lab to prove it’s better and faster, and also allow them to create more prototypes and begin pilot manufacturing.
Beyond the logistics of this project, being named as a recipient from FuzeHub holds plenty of significance to Dynami.
“Winning this competitive grant in a project that is being co-developed with Binghamton’s NECCES, and Professor Stanley Whittingham is our principal investigator is a tremendous honor and a tremendous challenge. During the execution of this funding, we have to perform as promised.” Baron continued to say, “It’s the first non-dilutive funding we’ve received from the state of New York upon our arrival in Binghamton. Furthermore, it’s the first non-dilutive funding we’ve received from any U.S. entity, so that’s very important.”
Reporting Milestone Data
In the NECCES lab, Dynami is testing their lithium battery prototypes and how this informs their business model. What sets Dynami’s lithium battery apart from their competitors is how they transform electrode microstructures, which can allow up to 80% faster charging of lithium batteries. The results from recently testing their product reported industry-leading, simultaneous high-power and high-capacity batteries. For electric vehicles (EVs), this leads to faster charging and longer range. All of this data was compiled into what in the industry calls a Ragone graph.
“The Ragone graph plots specific energy versus specific power,” Baron explained. “That’s the big trade-off in batteries – and what we have achieved. It’s a battery that uses exactly the same materials, no difference in the quantity or the quality of the materials, and has a much higher energy for any given power. So, you have an electrode that charges very fast and also has much higher capacity retention, which is what you want. Most of these limitations in battery cells don’t come from the chemistry, they come from the physics of the functioning of the battery and that’s what we change with our microstructure.”
In the wake of this milestone data report, the Dynami team is working to capitalize on the momentum with a new round of fundraising. Meeting all of their company goals in 2022–23, including intellectual property patents, testing predictions and gaining experimental results put them in the ideal position to seek funding for the next phase; battery cell production. Their goal for this new fundraising – $6 million.
“We’ve built more than 100 battery cells that proved our hypothesis, so when the $6 million is secured, we’re going to establish a small sample-making pilot facility in Binghamton at the Koffman.” Baron continued, “We will have an R&D laboratory and a production laboratory. With this setup, we can provide our potential clients with samples. Our electrode product is integrated into our clients’ batteries, so it is important for us to be able to produce enough quantity. The next round is essentially to establish the pilot production, expand the team and our patent portfolio so by the end of that two-year period we see revenue”
Going to The Battery Show with I-Corps
Dynami capitalized on the opportunity to take part in the hybrid NSF I-Corps Interior Northeast regional course, a free to participate in program through the Koffman and facilitated by Binghamton University’s Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Partnership’s staff. Participation required them to execute vital customer discovery work, with the opportunity to attend The Battery Show in Novi, Michigan from September 12–14, 2023.
The work and connections made throughout the I-Corps program, with the added benefits of attending The Battery Show, allows companies to take a hard look at their current structure and make necessary pivots prior to full-scale production. For this reason, Dynami is in the perfect phase of their business to reflect in this intense manner and adjust as their fundraising efforts ramp up.
“Sergio Baron and Dynami are looking to revolutionize battery electrode manufacturing while forging partnerships and enabling impacts in the Southern Tier. Participation in the Battery Show Hybrid I-Corps Course allowed them to connect with key industry leaders at North America’s largest advanced battery event to gain valuable information to help them bring their innovation to the market and gather insights from market leaders to identify the problems they are able to address,” said Olga Petrova, director of entrepreneurship and innovation partnerships at Binghamton University and program director of the NSF funded Innovation Binghamton I-Corps Site.
“Although we have done some customer discovery in the past, this is going to be much deeper and, most importantly, much more structured in the goal of getting clients.” Baron continues, “It’s one thing is to read about [customer discovery] to complete coursework that is completely hands-on, is another. I-Corps at the Battery Show, is actually a battery commercialization course. It’s exactly what we need.”
Growing the Company
When it comes to other essentials for Dynami, the importance of their recent patent filings and awards cannot be overstated. In fact, they’ve recently filed three patents.
The first protects their manufacturing technology and the resulting microstructures that technology produces. Their second patent is related to the first in that it protects the expanded use of their microstructures and their application to non-battery technologies. Still in process is the third patent, which Baron was not able to share many details about given the pending nature. However, he was able to share that this patent is related to battery results derived from their previously mentioned experimental data.
Baron describes these patents as “the founding stone” of Dynami and their technology. Meaning, the work and innovation they have done and continue to do are dependent on the patents they have sought and will seek in the future to protect their intellectual property.
As Dynami has experienced these momentous wins, they have also put forth the effort to grow their team to keep up with the pace of their expanding business.
They recently hired Brian Resnick who will take on a hybrid Chief Marketing Officer/Chief Revenue Officer role and responsibilities. Ultimately, Baron defines Resnick’s role as largely helping reach fundraising goals ahead.
In addition to this full-time hire, Dynami brought on student interns as part of the student start-up experience offered through New Energy New York (NENY). Baron mentioned that the experience with their two interns was excellent and both played key roles in advancing Dynami’s work, whether through hands-on experimental testing and research or conducting market assessments and competitor benchmarking.
Keeping their Momentum High
It seems like nothing can slow Dynami down amidst the rush of good news and opportunities coming their way.
“We hope that this momentum will help us to get through our second valley of death,” Baron said, “which is from having technology validated into some sort of scale-up. Battery start-ups have several valleys of death compared to other start-ups. We think we already overpassed the first chasm and this momentum – we hope will help to jump the second one.”
Baron also talks about working with Koffman staff and sincerely credits the entire Koffman team for the positive momentum Dynami has seen.
“On most internal team calls, there’s always a moment where we congratulate ourselves on choosing to work at the Koffman. I mean, it really transformed our company and its potential. Everyone is so helpful… it’s amazing,” Baron commented.
“Working with the Dynami Team and more specifically, Sergio and Brent, has been inspiring,” Mike Jagielski, director of the Koffman clean energy incubator program, said. “From the Argentine R&D development team to the financial magic that Brent has been able to employ, Dynami is moving forward to help ensure that their microstructures, can have a dramatic effect on battery cycling and energy density performance. This can be a pivotal technology to reduce overall battery weight, increase fast charge capability all while retaining higher charge states in the battery. I see great promise for Dynami and recognize that they can build out their organization anywhere, but yet they choose to be at the Koffman Incubator.”
Dynami was also a runner-up in the Koffman’s Start-Up Showcase during the Welcome Reception for Binghamton’s Battery Week on October 17. They were additionally featured on a start-up showcase panel at the New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium (NY-BEST) Fall Energy Storage Technology and Innovation Conference on October 18 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Binghamton, NY.
After these presentations, Dynami’s focus is shifting back to their bigger goals.
“Our next big thing is the [previously mentioned] fundraising and enlarging the team with the right people. Personally, fundraising is very challenging but getting the right team is even more challenging because essentially there’s more money than great people.”
