As the Energizer bunny marches out of Wisconsin, another company is ready to capitalize on the workforce left behind and manufacture – you guessed it – batteries!
Jeff Greene is the CEO of Wisconsin Battery Company (WinBat™). On April 23rd, the company broke ground in Portage on a new facility that will use hemp to produce batteries.
WinBat has received an investment of $5 million from Infinite Power Systems (IPS), a private equity fund. With this investment, 87.5% of WinBat’s seed round has been funded. The company said it will use the funds for development of prototypes for its hemp carbon battery, produced in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and also for construction and buildout of its new manufacturing facility in Portage.
Created to develop and deploy ESG solutions, South-Africa-based IPS scouts technologies and also resources that can advance sustainable solutions in agriculture, transportation, energy and other critical sectors.
WinBat will collaborate with IPS to identify business opportunities in the African market, providing
technology and expertise while IPS leverages its network and financial resources to bring WinBat’s
innovations in energy storage to its ventures in Africa.
“We see this as a very synergistic relationship,” said WinBat CEO Jeff Greene. “IPS’s portfolio offers us
many opportunities for partnering with companies that are aligned with our goal of bringing products to
market that are both better performing and better for the planet.”
Greene tells Mid-West Farm Report that the first type of battery they’ll focus on producing will be those used in hearing aids. After that, additional lines will be more consumer-type batteries with the end game being targeted at EV batteries for vehicles. The hemp battery would also be rechargeable.
You can read more about their conversation here: https://www.midwestfarmreport.com/2024/04/11/portage-welcomes-hemp-batteries/
IPS spokesperson Michael Luliucci pointed to Agilitee, a South Africa-based EV manufacturer, as an
example of this synergy. “We’d like to put WinBat’s batteries in Agilitee’s cars,” he said. “And we can produce those batteries in Africa, as well as sourcing the raw materials, including hemp. This kind of
partnership advances our mission of bringing prosperity to communities active throughout the supply
chain.” IPS is also currently investing in projects in Ghana and Nigeria.