Gigaethe secures 900 million won in seed funding, with participation from Shinhan Venture Investment and Bluepoint.

Gigaete, a thermal energy storage specialist, announced on the 10th that it has completed raising seed investment totaling 900 million won.

This investment round was led by Shinhan Venture Investment, with joint participation from Bluepoint Partners, Daejeon Creative Economy Innovation Center-Gravity Ventures, and Star Ventures.

GigaEte is developing and commercializing an ITP battery based on KAIST technology. It possesses the technology to convert and store high-temperature waste heat or renewable energy wasted due to limited output into heat. This technology is attracting attention as it complements the limitations of existing electricity-centric energy storage methods and can expand its application to include industrial thermal energy utilization.

The constant-temperature thermal battery can stably store high temperatures of hundreds of degrees for long periods of time, and can be used in various fields such as ▲cooling based on waste heat recovery ▲district heating linked to renewable energy ▲supply of steam for power generation ▲storage of surplus heat from SMR (small modular reactor) as well as supplying heat for industrial processes.

Given that more than half of energy consumption in industrial settings is in the form of heat, it is evaluated as a technology that can be expanded beyond electricity-centered carbon reduction to include heat energy-based decarbonization.

The investment firm also highly evaluated the technology's growth potential. Song Min-soo, a senior analyst at Bluepoint Partners, said, "With the government's eco-friendly policies expanding into the thermal energy sector, this technology has the potential to achieve even greater carbon reductions. This investment will provide Korea with an opportunity to lead the low-carbon thermal energy transition market."

With this investment, Gigaethe plans to launch domestic and international proof-of-concept (PoC) projects. Currently, it is participating in waste heat-based cooling demonstrations at domestic manufacturing sites, an eco-friendly district heating conversion project in Mongolia, and an energy-saving grain drying project in Australia.

Jang Dae-jun, CEO of Gigaethe, said, “Through this investment, we will expand verification and strengthen cooperation with domestic and international partners to lead innovation in the thermal energy field. Based on K-thermal battery technology, we will strive to present a new standard in the global decarbonization trend.”