Nyobolt hits $1B valuation with $60M Series C led by Symbotic

Nyobolt, the Cambridge-based developer of ultra-fast-charging, high-power batteries, has closed a $60M (£44M) Series C at a $1B valuation, becoming the UK's latest battery-technology unicorn. The round was led by Nasdaq-listed Symbotic, with participation from existing backers IQ Capital, Latitude (Phoenix Court), Scania Invest and CBMM.

The pitch is straightforward: autonomous robots, humanoid systems and AI data centres need batteries that can deliver high peak power, recharge in minutes and survive being cycled hard dozens of times a day. Conventional lithium-ion cells, optimised for the long, slow discharge of an electric car, struggle in environments where downtime translates directly into lost throughput. Nyobolt argues its chemistry is purpose-built for that regime.

The company was spun out of the University of Cambridge's Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry in 2019 by CEO Dr Sai Shivareddy and Professor Dame Clare Grey, building on roughly a decade of research into niobium-based anode materials. The resulting cells, the company says, can charge from zero to 80% in under five minutes and last more than 20,000 cycles, paired with proprietary cell design and integrated power electronics. Customers today span warehouse automation, humanoid robotics and AI data-centre infrastructure.

Nyobolt's most visible deployment is inside Symbotic's SymBot autonomous mobile robots, which run across Symbotic's warehouse network. The company says its battery delivers six times the energy capacity of the ultracapacitors the SymBots previously used, is 40% lighter, and offers at least ten times the cycle life of standard lithium-ion. Revenue grew fivefold year-on-year ahead of the round, and the company now employs around 115 people across the UK, US and Asia. A memorandum of understanding with the Indian state of Rajasthan covers more than 100MW of off-grid AI data-centre and power-management infrastructure.

For Symbotic, leading the round is as much a supply-chain decision as an investment one: it locks in a critical component for a robotics business with a multibillion-dollar backlog. For Nyobolt, the capital extends a runway that was looking thin only 18 months ago — the company warned in early 2025 that it could run out of funds before raising a £23M bridge that summer — and funds a push into humanoid robotics and grid-independent AI data-centre power. Total funding to date now stands at approximately $160M.

Sources

• Soapbox — Nyobolt raises £44m in funding led by Symbotic
• Business Wire — Nyobolt Closes Series C Round at $1B Valuation
• TheNextWeb — Nyobolt raises $60M at $1B valuation led by Symbotic
• BusinessCloud — Nyobolt crowned a unicorn after warning it could go bust last year
• TechFundingNews — Cambridge battery startup Nyobolt hits unicorn status