Prieto Battery today announced its business collaboration with Intel's New Business Group and initial investment from Intel Capital at the annual Intel Capital Global Summit in San Diego. The primary focus of this collaboration with Intel is to accelerate the introduction of Prieto's full 3D solid-state battery cell into the marketplace. Director Thomas Urban led the investment in Prieto from Intel Capital; terms were not disclosed.
Specifically, Prieto has agreed to complete a series of milestones designed by Intel and Prieto to demonstrate the company's battery performance and readiness, with a focus on improving the performance of the battery against size, energy density, and complexity vectors. Intel will be staging their investment to each milestone; and in exchange, Prieto is granting Intel the ability to implement the technology first in computing devices.
"This commitment from Intel, one of the global leaders in computing devices, is important for us at this stage of our company," said Dr. Amy Prieto, CEO, CSO and Co-Founder of Prieto Battery. "We've been deliberate about trying to build relationships with companies like Intel that can help shape our commercialization roadmap and deliver strategic value for all stakeholders -- most importantly, the end user of the technology."
Today's growing need for energy storage is driving the requirement for a radical change in battery design and production. Since its incorporation in 2009, Prieto has made significant strides in achieving its goal to produce a truly disruptive and transformational battery technology through its patented 3D battery architecture. Alongside the technology, Prieto has also patented a unique electroplating manufacturing process for its battery that uses non-toxic materials and will be price competitive. Having demonstrated the fabrication of key battery materials and components in 2014, Prieto is now working to optimize battery prototypes and ready them for commercialization.
"Prieto's thoughtful and creative approach to battery innovation is attractive to Intel as we focus on designing and building essential technologies that serve to advance the world's computing devices. This is particularly true for wearable devices, where a conformal battery with high energy density is highly attractive," said Jerry Bautista, VP in the New Technology Group and GM of the New Business Group at Intel. "Our goal is to help incubate and accelerate Prieto's technology into early product implementation that will provide significant market advantage to several of our business units."
