EnerVenue Holding, Ltd. (“EnerVenue”) announced today the closing of its U.S. $300
million extension of its Series B preferred stock financing round. The extension round
was led by Full Vision Capital.
Incubated by Full Vision Capital, EnerVenue also announced the appointment of
Henning Rath as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). With the investment and strategic
support of the Hong Kong Investment Corporation Limited (“HKIC”), the company plans
to establish a regional headquarters in Hong Kong to coordinate sales across the region,
alongside an innovation center that will attract scientists from Hong Kong and abroad to
advance materials research. The company also intends to partner with local universities
to nurture industry talent.
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Henning Rath appointed as CEO of EnerVenue
EnerVenue batteries and energy racks
Henning Rath appointed as CEO of EnerVenue
In recent years, Professor Yi Cui of Stanford University, together with the EnerVenue
team, has overcome longstanding industrialization barriers of Aqueous Metal Cell
(“AMC”) batteries, which have a proven heritage in aerospace applications, converting
this technological breakthrough into a scalable, commercially viable solution. Ranked
10th on TIME’s America's Top GreenTech Companies of 2025, EnerVenue is now
positioned as a pioneering leader in the global green energy revolution. The new round
of financing will further accelerate the large-scale industrial application of the energy
storage technology.
EnerVenue batteries and energy racks
“This $300 million extension of Series B preferred stock funding is a testament to the
strength of EnerVenue’s technology and the entire team’s execution,” said newly
appointed CEO Henning Rath. “The capital is crucial for further R&D of our core
technologies, ramp-up of large‑scale manufacturing, reinforcement of supply‑chain
robustness, and expansion of global commercial reach. It also provides runway for
achieving our short- and medium-term production capacity targets.”
Rath, an internationally recognized technology executive with a distinguished record of
building billion-dollar companies and deep expertise in the global energy sector, guided
the company to this successful funding milestone.
“Henning’s leadership has been pivotal in positioning EnerVenue for this growth phase,”
said Dr. Yi Cui, chairman of EnerVenue. “His strategic vision and operational credibility
were instrumental in building investor confidence and closing this significant round. His
deep expertise in industrial scaling and global market execution is exactly what
EnerVenue needs to achieve its ambitious manufacturing and deployment goals.”
Ms Clara Chan, CEO of the HKIC, remarked, “By investing in EnerVenue, the HKIC is
empowering the Company with our capital, platform and talent networks to accelerate
the development of the Company’s groundbreaking technology, and establishing a
model on the transformation of frontier green technology into industrial applications
and commercial return. Hong Kong will help companies like EnerVenue to optimise their
global action plan and serve as a gateway to international market, leveraging our
strengths as international financial center, “super-connector”, and “super valueadder”.As part of this journey, applications of the relevant green technology will also
contribute to the rest of the world, bringing benefits to all parties involved.”
Mr. Alan Chan, Co‑founder of EnerVenue and Managing Partner of lead investor Full
Vision Capital, said, “We are deeply honoured to receive the strong support and recognition of the HKIC. This marks an important step in accelerating our
mass‑production capabilities. With the launch of our Hong Kong regional office and
innovation center, we look forward to partnering with HKIC to leverage Hong Kong’s
pivotal role as a global green‑technology and green‑finance hub, and to advance the
city’s standing as an international technology and innovation center.
PARIS (AP) — At a museum in eastern France, two men disguised with wigs used a sledgehammer and a hammer to smash a display case and make off with a 2,500-year-old gold necklace. The heist took under four minutes.
In a smash-and-grab at another French museum, three masked robbers stole 27 pieces of jewelry valued at more than 4.5 million euros (US$5.2 million), busting through two doors to break in.
Those thefts took place in July. This week, thieves sliced through a fence and climbed through the window of a museum on the French Riviera and fled with two paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. They abandoned two other artworks by the Impressionist master as they made their escape.
The rash of the robberies, coming on the heels of last year's stunning jewel heist in France's most famous and most visited museum, the Louvre, show how the country is both blessed and cursed by its troves of treasure accumulated over centuries of conquest, creativity and having money to spend on art.
France's passion for paintings, sculptures, ancient artifacts and other valuables and curios is a source of national pride and identity. Thousands of museums that house collections big and small help transmit France's love of culture and history from one generation to the next. The biggest also draw millions of tourists who pump money into the French economy.
But keeping all that wealth safe is costly and difficult. Criminals see museums as soft targets. The brazen and agonizing theft of 88 million euros ($102 million) worth of crown jewels from display cases in the Louvre's Apollo gallery served as a wake-up call. But it was only the most shocking example of broader threats to museums, and not just in France.
“When the jewels of a French king disappear, to be melted down because of the price of gold, it is tragic. It breaks everyone’s heart,” said Guillaume Poitrinal, president of a foundation that funds the renovation and protection of French cultural sites, the Fondation du patrimoine.
“We need to make it more difficult to steal works of art and objects that are part of France’s cultural heritage and belong to all French people. That is absolutely essential. And to achieve that, we need to invest,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Before dawn Tuesday, two robbers made off with “Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano” and “Young Woman at the Well.” They dropped ’’Portrait of Madame Pichon” and “Coco Reading” as they fled through the garden of the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer.
They cut through a fence with an electric knife or saw and entered the museum through the ground floor, said Bryan Masson, mayor of the town between Cannes and Nice on the Mediterranean coast.
The heist took under three minutes. Masson estimated the artworks' value at 9 million euros ($10.5 million). Offloading well-known, stolen art is impossible through legitimate channels, so the paintings could prove to be worth little or nothing for the thieves.
European police agency Europol says museum heists are becoming more violent, with sledgehammers, axes, crowbars and even explosives used for break-ins and to smash display cases.
Thieves also are increasingly targeting museum items with gold and other precious metals that can be melted down and with gemstones that can be removed and sold, the agency said in a report in August. Criminals believe “museum security measures are less robust than those in jewelry stores,” it said.
The ancient necklace stolen July 24 from the museum in Châtillon-sur-Seine, eastern France, was crafted from nearly half a kilo (a pound) of gold.
A record 10 burglaries targeted French and other European museums this summer, according to Jean-Christophe Castelain, director of Le Journal des Arts, a bimonthly revue of the art world.
“Eight of those 10 involved jewelry, coins or antique objects that can easily be melted down,” he said.
The Lalique Museum in Wingen-sur-Moder, further east near France's border with Germany, has not reopened since the July 5 theft of jewelry there from six display cases busted open with sledgehammers and hammers. The public museum celebrates 19th-century jeweler and glassmaker René Lalique and his successors.
The pain is still raw for its director, Véronique Brumm Schaich. Her voice cracked with emotion during an interview. The museum is seeking 200,000 euros ($233,000) for security upgrades.
“Robbers’ tactics are evolving,” she said. “The recent examples show that we are not the only ones who need to go further in our efforts.”
Because of government budget squeezes, it's not yet clear how much funding will come from public coffers, she said. The museum is also collecting private donations, because “these are things that are extremely expensive,” she said.
“These are difficult times,” she said. “A burglary never comes at a good time, but this one came at an especially bad time.”
Some of the funding that the Fondation du patrimoine provides, including for museums, comes from a national lottery. To help boost museum revenues, the foundation is also launching a pass that will grant subscribers access to 500 museums, monuments and châteaux.
“France is a country where we love passing the buck,” said Poitrinal, the foundation president. “People say it is the state’s responsibility or the city’s responsibility. I say it's quite simple: it is everyone’s responsibility.”
Associated Press journalists Catherine Gaschka and Alex Turnbull in Paris contributed.
FILE - A person photographs Leonardo da Vinci's painting Mona Lisa at the Louvre museum, Aug. 31, 2025, in Paris. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, file)
The entrance of the Renoir Museum is pictured after thieves stole four valuable Renoir paintings, in Cagnes-sur-Mer, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Philippe Magoni)
The Renoir Museum is pictured after thieves stole four valuable Renoir paintings, in Cagnes-sur-Mer, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Philippe Magoni)
