Singapore deep-tech startup Flint creates paper batteries for the energy transition

[SINGAPORE] Sustainable alternatives are often more expensive or come with compromises in terms of functionality, but one Singapore company is trying to buck the trend with a unique product – paper batteries.

Deep-tech startup Flint produces batteries made of cellulose – the key ingredient in paper production, hence their name – that are priced competitively with their lithium-based counterparts. Their performance is also comparable.  

These paper batteries can be used in devices such as keyboards, computer mice and wearables. The carbon footprint for manufacturing each one is around 30 per cent smaller than that for a conventional battery.  

Paper batteries are also safer as they are fire-resistant; conventional batteries are made from flammable and reactive materials. 

As Flint’s batteries are composed of cellulose, manganese and zinc, their production does not depend on the supply chains for the scarce resources used to manufacture conventional batteries, such as lithium and cobalt. 

This allows the process to be decentralised from places where batteries are typically produced – an especially critical feature when the global battery supply chain has turned into a flashpoint for trade tensions. 

Therefore, even a small country lacking natural resources such as Singapore can manufacture paper batteries, said Flint co-founder Carlo Charles. 

With companies looking to move their supply chains out of China, he noted that geopolitical developments have boosted demand for Flint’s products. A large proportion of its clients, from sectors such as tech and electronics, hail from Europe and North America.  

Supporting the clean energy transition

In January, Flint was among more than 30 Singapore companies that showcased their products at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas – a milestone for the startup.

Flint began in 2019 as a passion project, driven by Charles’ desire to create a more sustainable alternative to conventional batteries, which are key components in the world’s transition to green energy. 

“One of the most important aspects for climate change is clean energy, and to… transition (the world) to green energy, you really need to use a lot of batteries,” he said.

“(The fact that) the batteries that we’re using today are not green themselves is such an irony.”

Flint was incorporated in 2021 and today counts household names such as Amazon and Logitech among its clients. It is run by a 10-strong team and operates from an 8,000-square-foot space at 8 CleanTech Loop. 

The company takes on projects to build batteries for specific applications based on customers’ requests, including energy storage systems, toys and consumer electronics such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops, Charles said.

Within the next five years, Flint intends to scale its production and get its batteries into every device that requires them, the co-founder added, noting that it hopes to develop batteries for electric vehicles (EVs). 

“EVs are like the holy grail that we want… but we are not focusing on that yet.” He said that EV battery production requires gigafactories that need considerable amounts of money, resources and capital to be built. 

For now, manufacturing constraints present a barrier to scalability. “The harsh truth of building a hard-tech company (is that) it really boils down to production.”

Flint makes batteries at its office and lab in Singapore, where around five million units can be produced each year. 

Charles said that the startup is looking to build a facility in Europe that will expand its production to around 300 million batteries a year. 

Profitability on the horizon 

With Flint expected to reach profitability this year, the goal is for the company to sustain its own growth, he said, although he is not closed off to funding. 

He noted that Flint has completed its seed and pre-Series A rounds of fundraising, and now has sufficient funds to scale. 

“I guess the key reason is we don’t want to dilute ourselves too much. As a founder, I want to focus on what matters, (which is) the products and the innovation.” 

Going public is not off the table either, but the company has no plans for an initial public offering anytime soon, he added. 

Plans beyond batteries  

In the longer term, his vision is for Flint to venture beyond batteries and tackle other environmental issues. 

“In the next 10 years, our goal is to really focus on other problems that the world has, and to try to solve those… The main reason I started (this) was to combat climate change with technology, and batteries are really just the first step.” 

He said the areas the company could explore next are carbon capture and storage technology, or problems such as plastic pollution and ocean acidification. 

“There’s a lot of things that we can focus on, but I guess I’m trying my best to not get diverted and lose focus.

“I have a lot of ideas that I’m just keeping in my journal, but at the end of the day, I’m 100 per cent focused on Flint’s strategy for batteries today.”