IAN Group, the country’s single largest early-stage investment platform, has led a Rs.27.4 crore seed round in e-TRNL Energy, a cleantech startup pioneering next-generation battery cell technology, through its 2nd VC Fund, IAN Alpha Fund. The round saw participation from Navam Capital, Speciale Invest, and other investors.

The funds raised will be used to complete product development, validate performance and safety, and demonstrate manufacturing capability in India. The company has already set up a 20,000 sq. ft. R&D and early manufacturing facility in Bengaluru to support testing and scale-up. It has been granted two patents for its battery cell design and has filed additional patent applications.

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The company plans to establish a 250 MWh pilot manufacturing facility by 2027, with the intention of expanding it to a 2 GWh capacity later. Its first battery product will use LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) chemistry, with plans to develop LMFP and Sodium-ion batteries in the future. The company plans to supply its cells to battery pack manufacturers serving electric mobility and energy storage markets.

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Apoorv Shaligram, Co-founder & CEO, e-TRNL Energy says, “Over the past three years, we've created a ground-breaking battery cell design and built precise machines and processes needed to realize it. With this funding round, we move towards demonstration, testing, and scaling our innovation for commercialization. Beyond positioning India as a leader in energy storage innovations, these efforts will also strengthen our resilience against global supply chain vulnerabilities in these changing times.”

Rajnish Kapur, Managing Partner, IAN Alpha Fund says, “India’s energy transition will depend not just on adopting batteries, but on owning core cell design and manufacturing capabilities. What stood out with e-TRNL Energy was their first-principles rethink of cell architecture and manufacturing, rather than incremental upgrades to legacy designs. This integrated approach tackles performance, safety, heating, and cost together, which is exactly the kind of deep-tech innovation we back at IAN”.

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India is rapidly adopting electric mobility and renewable energy, but it still depends heavily on imported battery cells and manufacturing equipment. This creates supply chain risks and increases costs. e-TRNL Energy aims to build an indigenous battery cell design and manufacturing platform to reduce this dependence and strengthen India’s position in advanced energy storage.

The Indian battery cell market is expected to grow to nearly 400 GWh per year by 2035, representing a significant economic opportunity. However, building this capacity using existing global technologies would require large capital investments and imported machinery. The company’s approach focuses on developing both the battery cell and the manufacturing equipment in-house, which can potentially lower capital costs and improve efficiency.