---
title: "Certain Energy’s £10M Series A: Manganese Flow Batteries for Grid Waste"
description: "British Business Bank led Certain Energy’s £10M Series A with Centrica, Ceres, and Temasek Trust C3H — Imperial spinout (ex-RFC Power) aiming at UK curtailment costs and an India MWh demo."
date: 2026-08-26T00:00:00.000Z
tags: ["2026-vc-news", "startup-funding", "venture-capital", "climate-tech", "deep-tech"]
source: https://venturecapitaltracker.com/2026-certain-energy-10m-series-a-manganese-flow
---

# Certain Energy’s £10M Series A: Manganese Flow Batteries for Grid Waste

> British Business Bank led Certain Energy’s £10M Series A with Centrica, Ceres, and Temasek Trust C3H — Imperial spinout (ex-RFC Power) aiming at UK curtailment costs and an India MWh demo.

**Certain Energy** (formerly **RFC Power**) closed a **£10 million Series A** on **August 26, 2026**, led by the **British Business Bank**, with **Centrica**, **Ceres Power**, and **Temasek Trust’s C3H**. The Imperial College spinout is commercializing **manganese flow batteries** for long-duration storage.

**Unexpected truth:** the UK buyer problem is not “we need more solar.” It is **paying wind/solar to switch off** when the grid cannot absorb them — press cites ~**£1.5B** recent curtailment costs and a path toward ~**£8B/year by 2030** if storage does not scale.

## Key facts

| Field | Detail |
| --- | --- |
| Company | Certain Energy (London / Imperial White City; CEO Tim von Werne; Exec Chair Mark Selby) |
| Prior name | RFC Power (founded 2017) |
| Round | **£10M Series A** |
| Date | August 26, 2026 |
| Lead | British Business Bank (**£3.5M** cited) |
| Participants | Centrica; Ceres Power Holdings; Temasek Trust C3H |
| Chemistry | Manganese flow battery; duration via tank size; company: ~20-year life, **>75%** RTE |
| Use of funds | Commercialization; India **MWh-class** grid-connected demo; UK R&D expansion; supply chain |

## Who uses the product — and for what job

**Users:** utilities, energy majors (Centrica is literally on the cap table), and grids that need **hours-to-days** storage without rare-mineral vanadium dependence.

**Job:** store surplus renewables and discharge when generation is scarce — replacing or deferring gas peakers and cutting curtailment checks.

India MWh demo is the **proof milestone**; UK facility expansion is the **manufacturing readiness** milestone.

## Why now

- Curtailment costs made LDES a fiscal/policy issue, not only a climate slogan.
- UK industrial strategy capital (British Business Bank) is willing to lead where pure venture still hesitates on hardware timelines.
- Strategic co-investors (Centrica, Ceres) bring offtake/tech adjacency that a solo VC syndicate cannot.

## Why this syndicate — portfolio fit

- **British Business Bank:** Policy-aligned lead for homegrown LDES — minister framing is energy security and bills, not ARR multiples.
- **Centrica:** Potential future buyer/operator sitting on the cap table.
- **Ceres:** Fellow Imperial electrochemical franchise; CFO quote emphasizes abundant chemistry + capital-efficient manufacturing path.
- **C3H (Temasek Trust):** Catalytic climate/health capital for first commercial steps.
- **Likely founder rationale:** raise **patient strategic + public-bank capital** for demo factories, not a Silicon Valley growth fund that needs software margins by Series B.

*No directory `/fund/` pages for these investors.*

## Competitive map

| Player | Difference |
| --- | --- |
| [Form Energy](/2026-form-energy-750m-series-g-sequoia-coatue) | Iron-air; U.S. manufacturing mega-round |
| [Ore Energy](/2026-ore-energy-43m-series-a-iron-air) | Earlier iron-air Series A peer |
| [Emerald AI](/2026-emerald-ai-150m-series-a-1-05b) | Software load-flex — same grid bottleneck, no new batteries |
| Vanadium flow incumbents | Proven but electrolyte cost/supply constraints |
| Lithium-ion 2–4h systems | Wrong duration class for multi-day gaps |

## Practical takeaway

- **Founders (climate hardware):** Pair chemistry claims with a **named grid demo** and a strategic offtaker on the round.
- **Investors:** Compare Certain’s £10M commercialization print to Form’s $750M factory print — same category, different maturity.
- **Operators:** Watch the India MWh system; that is the credibility gate for UK volume production.

### Sources

1. https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/articles/admin-services/enterprise/2026/imperial-energy-storage-spinout-certain-energy-raises-10m-from-investors/
2. https://www.finsmes.com/2026/08/certain-energy-raises-10m-in-series-a-funding.html
3. https://www.renews.biz/other-news/energy-storage/certain-energy-secures-10m-funding-for-battery-tech/

**By:** [Venture Capital Tracker](https://venturecapitaltracker.com/editorial-policy)

**Editorial note:** AI tools assisted with research, structure, or drafting. Venture Capital Tracker retains human editorial responsibility for factual accuracy, relevance, and source quality before publication.