In a story fit for Halloween, Redflow — a name that sounds like it was born for a ghost story — met its untimely end. As with any horror tale, the question lingers: what went wrong, and could it have been saved?
Redflow had everything to make it a cleantech success: a unique zinc-bromide flow battery IP, promising less reliance on scarce materials compared to its lithium-ion competitors. It had a record of sales to residential customers and was on the verge of scaling to grid-scale with a 20MWh contract. It even had the government ready to pledge as much investment as private backers. But the private funds never came, and that nailed shut Redflow’s coffin. ⚰️
Was it just a case of “tight capital markets”? That’s the claim, but in Australia — where energy storage is booming — it’s hard not to wonder. Perhaps flow battery technology itself faces challenges that investors see all too clearly. Redflow is another entry in the “flow battery graveyard,” showing that even with tech advantages, a sales track record, and market readiness, there’s no guarantee that the capital will flow.
Halloween, with all its ghastly tales, reminds us of our (often irrational) fears. But as founders and investors, it’s the real-world failures, not just the celebrated successes, that teach us what to watch out for. Redflow’s collapse is a sobering reminder that checking all the boxes of a scale-up won’t always win investor buy-in.
Happy Halloween, and memento mori! 🎃👻
You can read the original news article here.