Nyobolt secures $60M in funding at a valuation of $1B, with Symbotic leading the round, to develop ultrafast-charging batteries for warehouse robots and AI data centers.

      **TL;DR** Cambridge-based battery startup Nyobolt has secured $60 million at a $1 billion valuation, led by Symbotic, a robotics firm utilizing Nyobolt’s ultrafast-charging niobium tungsten oxide cells in its warehouse robots. These batteries charge in under five minutes, endure 20,000 cycles, and are aimed at physical AI and data center power systems instead of electric vehicles.

      The battery that has propelled Nyobolt to unicorn status is not designed for automobiles but for warehouse robots. The Cambridge startup disclosed on Tuesday that it completed a $60 million Series C funding round at a $1 billion valuation, spearheaded by Symbotic, a Nasdaq-listed AI robotics company whose SymBot autonomous mobile robots operate using Nyobolt’s batteries. This round raises its total funding to roughly $160 million and values a firm founded in 2019 based on research into niobium tungsten oxide anodes at the University of Cambridge by Professor Dame Clare Grey. Nyobolt’s batteries can charge from zero to 80% in under five minutes, endure over 20,000 charge cycles without deterioration, and offer 20 times the energy density of supercapacitors. The initial development target was electric vehicles, but the current market demands focus on physical AI applications.

      **The Chemistry**

      Traditional lithium-ion batteries use graphite anodes, which restrict charging speed because lithium ions can only move into and out of the graphite structure at a limited rate; exceeding this can cause lithium plating on the anode surface, leading to cell degradation and safety hazards. Nyobolt's innovation lies in its niobium tungsten oxide anode, which has a crystal structure allowing up to 100 times more lithium-ion mobility than graphite. This enables charging at rates that would damage conventional cells. The company merges this anode chemistry with proprietary cell design and integrated power electronics to manage the thermal and electrical dynamics of ultrafast charging. Consequently, the battery can achieve full charges in seconds for smaller formats and under five minutes for larger ones, with a cycle life extending into tens of thousands of charges, unlike the hundreds or low thousands typical of conventional lithium-ion batteries.

      The cycle life is a crucial specification for the markets Nyobolt is pursuing. Solid-state batteries developed for next-gen electric vehicles promise higher energy density and quicker charging, but they are made for applications where charging occurs once or twice daily throughout a vehicle's lifespan. In contrast, Nyobolt’s cells are tailored for applications needing dozens or hundreds of daily charges: warehouse robots that must recharge between tasks without lengthy downtimes, data center uninterruptible power supply systems designed to rapidly absorb and release energy during grid fluctuations, and autonomous machines that operate continuously in industrial settings. The difference between energy density and power density is between a battery that holds substantial energy and one that can quickly absorb and release energy. Nyobolt focuses on optimizing the latter.

      **The Customer**

      Symbotic's choice to lead this funding round clearly indicates Nyobolt’s commercial potential. Symbotic operates fleets of autonomous mobile robots in extensive distribution centers, most notably within Walmart’s logistics network, having deployed its systems in over 42 distribution centers following its acquisition of Walmart’s Advanced Systems and Robotics division for $200 million in January 2026. This partnership saw Walmart also invest $520 million in Symbotic, resulting in a backlog exceeding $5 billion. The SymBot robots previously utilized ultracapacitors, which charge quickly but store less energy. Nyobolt’s battery enhances these robots' energy capacity sixfold while preserving the ultrafast charging that ensures minimal downtime. In a warehouse context, where robot performance directly correlates to throughput and revenue, the battery is not just a component; it is a pivotal factor determining the required number of robots and their productivity.

      Nyobolt's revenue is increasing fivefold annually, reflecting what the company refers to as a surging demand for physical AI applications and AI data center infrastructure. Cambridge's deep technology ecosystem is producing unicorns at an increasing pace, with Nyobolt being the latest to surpass the billion-dollar mark from a university spinout pipeline known for successfully commercializing materials science and engineering research. Nyobolt was co-founded by Grey, a leading battery researcher, and Sai Shivareddy, who serves as CEO. Other contributors to the Series C round included IQ Capital, Latitude, Scania Invest, and CBMM.

      **The Market**

      Nyobolt is also expanding beyond warehouse robotics into two additional markets that demand high-power, high-cycle-life batteries. In AI data centers, the company aims to position its technology as a substitute for traditional lead-acid and lithium-ion UPS systems, designed for rare power outages rather than the frequent and rapid charge-discharge cycles modern grid instability and renewable energy fluctuations require. The International Energy Agency predicts that data center energy consumption will double by the end of 2026, with the internal power management infrastructure becoming as critical as the computational