Shauna McIntyre
Good afternoon, and welcome to the Q2 investor presentation for Ensurge Micropower. My name is Shauna McIntyre.
I'm the CEO of Ensurge, and this entire year has been about the year of commercialization. What I'm going to walk you through is showing you exactly where that stands, what changed in Q2 and what we're watching out for in the second half.
But before I get into it, I'm joined here by Bryce Dille, our new CFO. So I thought I would introduce him and let him introduce him to you.
Bryce, over to you.
Bryce Dille
Thank you, Shauna, and good afternoon, everyone. It is a privilege to step into the CFO position at such an important time in the company's evolution.
While I'm still early on in the process, my immediate priorities are clear. It will be important to maintain strict financial discipline, to continue optimizing our cost structure and to retain the financial flexibility required to capture our core market opportunities across next-generation high-performance devices.
The team has built an incredibly strong technology foundation. And with key operational pieces now in place, I'm excited to help lead Ensurge through its next phase of growth.
Our focus will be on disciplined capital allocation, both technical and commercial execution and ensuring that we have a strong foundation to scale the business and drive long-term shareholder value. I'm very happy to be with Ensurge and with the team.
And with that, I will pass it back to Shauna.
Shauna McIntyre
Great. Thanks so much, Bryce.
Welcome aboard. So happy to have you.
So let's get into it. So the next page is just standard disclaimer.
Please read it at your own time. I'd encourage you to review it, and I'll let our team know -- our IR team know that it's posted.
So Slide 3. This is the standard product or the standard, I would say, time sequence that you've seen time and again.
This is the path we're on and is a path we've been on all year. Q1 was about proving that the chemistry could deliver performance, and we delivered record performance.
Q2 is the quarter that we're here to discuss was about paving that performance and proving that, that performance repeats because a battery that works once in a glove box in a lab form isn't a product. It's a lab result.
What we're proving here is that those processes repeat, and that is the prerequisite to be able to ship products to customers and to have a product that's viable in the marketplace. Page 2 is about external validation, getting a real customer, putting a name on our data.
Every step is a step toward commercialization, which has been the anchor for the year. So to walk through what we've performed in the first half, certainly, I've already repeated -- I've already shared with you the Q1 report when we delivered record results from both our baseline platform and early results from the Corning single layer.
That was an accomplishment unto itself and some of the first in the industry for solid-state batteries. But the real proof in the pudding is here when it comes to process repeatability.
This gets down to the material science of what each process can perform. And by focusing on our core process, the LiPON deposition process, this is something that's unique to solid-state micro batteries.
The LiPON is what is the solid-state electrolyte. And by focusing on that product -- that process by bringing in experts around -- the world-leading experts, hiring in battery experts themselves and focusing on getting to that repeatability, we delivered a 4x, that's quadrupling of the LiPON electrolyte performance and a narrowing of any variability by 3x.
This is what paves the way to repeatability, and it is what paves the way for solid-state batteries actually making it into production. This is a major breakthrough for solid-state batteries around the world, and Ensurge was here to deliver it.
H2 is about bringing that to customers, engaging customers. We are spending a great deal of time making sure that those leading companies in the world that are the most innovative and understand the value of solid state that they actually believe in us and that we are the credible company that's worth them partnering with.
And we are making great progress in that regard. To sum up Q2 in a bit more detail, on the commercial front, we brought in a new commercial leader, Salil Soman, with 25 years of experience.
We've advanced those paid customer development programs, as I mentioned. And a moment on that, what does matter is that those customer development programs are long term, multiphase that these are partners that work with us every step along the way.
A battery built in a lab without a customer is just a lab product. What we're doing is bringing this to customers, making it real and making it tangible so that by developing that product, it actually meets customer specifications and meets customer demand as a result.
The financials, we continue to have great discipline, essentially restructuring the team, bringing in the requisite people, the type of skills we need to bring this to market while keeping our costs relatively flat. The exciting news for us is we are very close to being able to move our location.
This is not only a dramatic cost reduction for the company, in terms of its -- our ability to reduce our fixed costs substantially, but it creates a showcase opportunity for the company, for customers and an ability for us to really show what solid-state batteries really do, and it's thanks to our investors for making all that happen. The team, we are now -- our leadership team transformation is complete, thanks to Bryce being on board, thanks to Salil being on board.
We have a well-rounded leadership team, myself; our CTO, Dr. Asma Sharafi; our COO, Matt Catterson; and now our CCO, Salil Soman; and CFO, Bryce Dille.
We've also hired in great people into the company, keeping a super high bar. As you recall, we downsized the team substantially in early, early 2026, and now we've built it back up with the people who are making progress immediately.
The thing that really is making Q2 a quarter of all quarters, and that is this repeatability of the LiPON process. This is something that is fundamental to what we do, and it is -- the dividends of this are going to play themselves in the final product.
We also had the continued capacity -- continued testing of our Corning's Ribbon Ceramic cathode, and we were able to move that from what's called a glove box into our standard test protocols, which will accelerate testing. The other thing I would say we did quite a good job with is then addressing some of the legacy thin-film equipment that had limitations for what it was doing, and we broke through and actually resolved some equipment challenges to address and being able to achieve the results we did.
So to double-click here on LiPON. This is the solid-state electrolyte.
Any other battery, standard batteries today are liquid electrolyte. That liquid just flows between the anode and the cathode.
The challenge with solid state is that it's solid. And if that solid isn't perfect or near perfect, then it poses great challenges.
If you'll see on the left, there are some areas without bubbles, and there were times when the company was able to get results from that LiPON part. But you'll see other areas that have bubbles that's unacceptable for batteries.
That's just not something that will scale. So honing in on that process and being able to get it to an acceptable level is necessary for then all the other steps in the process.
And what we achieved was incredible results. LiPON has had a reputation of having potholes or pinholes.
And you'll see we have a glassy substance on the right. So the objective was set upfront to make sure that our sputtering process hit a particular specification.
That specification that we know is going to be competitive and is going to produce the results we need. We assess the composition.
We put the objectives in terms of conductivity, and we reviewed the entire element of the process from the equipment, from the composition of the lithium to the phosphate to the nitrogen to the actual conductivity then finally of the ionic movement. Recall that the electrolyte is what moves those ions between the anode and the cathode or the plus and the minus of a battery.
And so it's that conduit for all of those electrons, the ions to get from one to the other and back again. So this is our highway.
This is our ability to go from the sidewalk to the shop door that opens for these ions to move between the left -- the negative and positive. So this is the fundamental science of what we do.
So by assessing the process by making sure that we didn't make any assumptions on what that process could deliver, we then looked at what changes we need to implement by doing a very disciplined design of experiments. We improved the chemical composition.
We improved the equipment, and we improved the ability to deliver there. And now it's not a matter of just doing this once.
This on the right is not a measure. If we just did that once and we couldn't repeat it, well, then this won't be a result.
So the importance of controlling that and what that means is having specified definitions for what that process needs to do and then making sure that the people who are operating that process are doing exactly the same thing. All these things may sound quite boring, but they are so critical to making sure that this LiPON set is it actually delivers what we needed to deliver.
And you'll see on the bottom, this is one example of the type of improvement we made that resulted in that ionic conductivity improvement, and that is the thickness. So if you'll see those colors on the bottom left, the thickness had its challenges.
We had a very wavy LiPON process. By fixing the various elements in terms of the equipment and in terms of the composition of the LiPON as well as in the process control, we're able to get to a very controllable, very thin level.
This is a breakthrough for solid-state battery development, and it's something that I'm excited to share publicly as it really is fundamental to everything else we do, and it is the path to scale and commercialization. To be able to replicate performance across cells time and again is what paves our way to get to a proof-of-concept exit.
A note about the stack because I think this is important to just understand in the public and to be very clear, we've shown our product in an entirety. But what's, I think, really important is to show it broken down.
So you may remember our Gen 1 product. Well, that is really our R&D platform.
That is a stainless steel. You'll see the stainless steel there on the left.
It is a structural member. It provides structure to the rest of the stack.
It's in 75-micron, eventually 10-micron stainless steel, but that provides a structure. The cathode is what we have to [indiscernible] vapor deposition.
We basically add the LCO to that stainless steel as our cathode as one of the poles of the battery. Recall the LiPON solid-state electrolyte that goes in between the cathode and then the anode current collector.
And one of the beauties of this product is that it can ship without being charged. And so that anode is actually what we call anodeless before it charges before it ships and then upon its first charge, it turns into an anode, and that's when the ions start moving back and forth.
So the secret piece of this sandwich is that LiPON. It is the value-add contributor.
And so by focusing on stainless steel and the equipment we have in the building and the maturity of that product, we're able to drill into the LiPON. All of these developments are goodness toward what we're calling the Encore product platform.
This is our Corning cathode, the joint development agreement we have with Corning. And you'll see the LiPON deposition process carries over from one platform to another platform and again, provides that important layer of conductivity between the cathode and the anode or the plus and the minus of the battery.
So these are process steps that go between both battery platforms and are the fundamental science and the value that we're creating as a team. There are other elements of the development that we are focusing on, on the stainless steel that translate to the Encore product platform, such as the anode design with copper, test and validation, so making sure that we have the right type of test protocol and the test equipment to be able to test and verify the performance repeatedly at a very fine level of magnitude.
The LCO specification is lithium cobalt oxide. That is a specification of the cathode.
By learning on our own solid-state stainless steel platform, we can then understand what is the specification required of our partners. Assembly and stacking, this is a mechanical piece.
So once you have your assembly of a cell and you stack your cells on top of each other, that mechanical process of stacking is the same across both platforms with a little different material handling across the 2. But ensuring that we have the right specification for assembly and stacking from one directly parlays to the other.
And lastly, customers. The customers we can speak to about both platforms because the stainless steel has its own benefits and its own merits and for many reasons, a team of approximately 50 people need to focus, and that's by focusing on LiPON, we've been able to deliver LiPON.
Last quarter, by focusing on cycling, we were able to focus and deliver on cycling. And so by focusing our efforts, we make progress.
And I'm quite enthusiastic about this team and what we've already accomplished. To recall, this is last quarter's data.
This is nothing new. But this does show the level of dramatic improvement that's possible when the team focuses on something with the right set of skills.
So the previous baseline performance, the product died by around 60 to 80 cycles and lithium was escaping and that's obviously not a marketable product. But by bringing in and focusing on encapsulation and the cell architecture itself, we were able to move that cyclability up.
So think about your phone battery. You know how many -- oftentimes the phone dies within 1.5 years or the battery cycle life is quite low within 1.5 years or so of owning a phone.
That's that curve exactly. So you want that curve to be as flat as possible so that you can cycle in perpetuity and not lose your battery life.
And so the point here is to make sure that, that curve gets to be very flat. The improvement that this team was able to do in a very short period of time is a testament to the battery knowledge and the focus and the problem solving on making sure that we focus on cyclability and we get that cyclability.
To have about 250 cycles at 70% capacity retention for an early product sample is pretty remarkable in the overall scheme of battery development. The thing that gets really exciting is this early data we showed to you last quarter about Corning.
And you'll see the slope of that curve is pretty flat. And so the cycling retains itself during the course of the battery life, at least over these 100 cycles and more that we tested last time.
So this is the rubric. This is what good looks like is being able to show you cycle data with a flat curve.
And believe me, as we develop our data, as we develop our product and build these building blocks to ensure we have repeatability of results, you'll be seeing more of these types of cycle curves. This is a chart as well that you've seen before, might look a little different, but the focus is on proof of concept.
So as you recall, up to date, the goodness of what we're building from right now is all the innovation that happened prior to my joining and to the new team being on board. This discovery, this innovation, this new ideas, this allowed our wonderful solid-state architecture to be where it is today.
And the core fundamental principles of the fact that this technology works were demonstrated back then, and that's something we should all be proud of. The thing that really unlocks value for the company is to be able to do it repeatedly, to have the performance, to have the repeatability, to have the cycling data, all while focusing on a customer application.
So not doing it in a lab, not doing it in the vacuum, but doing it focused with the customer. And this is exactly our focus for this year, and that hasn't deviated from any previous statements.
Proof of concept unlocks substantial value. The rest is execution.
The rest is then in lockstep within a handful of customers as we validate the engineering design with more robust testing within the design validation is really when you lock in and get that design freeze to then focus on production validation, getting all that equipment and the processes locked in so that you have quality and repeatability at mass production. The worst thing in the world is to have a process that's not ready by mass production or a product that may have some fundamental flaws.
So you need to do that upfront. And that's why this proof-of-concept stage is so critical to unlocking that value because then the rest is execution.
And the rest is something that has very much been done with new product introduction. But getting this product to a real workable and repeatable level in hands with customers is a very important step, and we're excited to be there now and making real progress towards that proof of concept.
The product is something that also bears sharing with customers and investors. This is something that we -- this page that we're starting to show to customers because it really does show the value of what we have as Ensurge.
So today's lithium-ion batteries, you'll see on the left, nickel metal hydride, nickel cadmium, these are batteries that are in production today. And you'll see companies might advertise that they may have gotten to 600 watt-hours per liter, but they reach a natural asymptote with a liquid electrolyte.
What we have out into the right in terms of the volumetric energy density as well as gravimetric energy density is substantial. And this energy density, being able to pack more electrons into a box so that it delivers the same or more functionality to an end product in an end product without compromising package is such goodness that comes with the solid-state battery platform.
So the energy density just sets us apart and makes us unbeatable. But the other fundamental building blocks are really important too and are meaningful to our customers, the safety.
So having a solid-state electrolyte, we called the LiPON solid versus a liquid. The liquid electrolyte is what causes thermal runaway, which causes those thermal challenges.
If you've ever been in an airplane and they say, if you drop your phone, don't reach it and find somebody to help you with a cracked phone, that's because of the liquid electrolyte. If you have a solid-state battery in your phone, you're not going to have that worry.
That is why the solid-state electrolyte really builds a market opportunity for our product. And you'll see those shears in the middle picture there.
Those are metal shears, those conduct electricity. And the thermal camera that showed that test result showed nominal, if any, increase in the temperature of that product so -- or of that battery.
So the point is, is that by having a safe product, it unlocks a lot of opportunities. Think about medical device, implantables, near the eyes, near the ears, all of that.
Nobody wants a liquid electrolyte near their eyes or ears. Nobody wants liquid electrolyte inside their body, but a solid electrolyte opens up many, many opportunities.
And speaking of opportunities, the form factor being flexible, being able to have a semiconductor-like process where the form factor is a function of the laser etching means that we can etch it in however form of whatever shape we would like. So this opens up design flexibility for our customers, and this is an increasingly discussed topic as we engage external parties.
And lastly, another really important piece is that the solid-state electrolyte because it is solid state, the battery, I should say, the solid-state battery because it has a solid-state electrolyte, it actually enjoys higher temperature. So today's batteries need brackets and clips to be able to attach themselves to a circuit board because the battery needs to be added after the circuit board is soldered in place.
Our battery enjoys high temperature. The solid electrolyte doesn't change phase if it hits a higher temperature.
So you can solder the battery in place in that board, saving a lot of package size. So there are so many degrees of freedom we have with this wonderful product, this new echelon, new platform for solid -- for battery production, Western grown, Western developed that will unlock so many opportunities for our customers, and it's something that is engaging and why solid-state batteries more generally are something that the public and the world are eagerly awaiting.
And no surprise, the market is massive and growing quickly. So we categorize it into 2 buckets.
One is the market that is here right now needing product, engaging with us immediately. These are products that you might have seen already, hearing aids, watches, rings, other wearables.
These are applications that are here and now. And by adding a solid-state micro battery like our own, you can either reduce the size or you can add functionality.
You don't need to have that trade-off of, well, if I want more functionality, the product has to get bigger. That's what the discussion is with today's batteries.
With our battery, you have your cake and eat it too, you get them both. So the customers are quite excited, and these are applications that are here and now.
But there's a whole other new market that this unlocks that we're increasingly in discussion about, as I mentioned in the disclosure that we have expanded our target markets into defense. There are a number of defense applications.
If you think about the wearables for armed service, you think about the applications in the field where battery life matters and that supply chain of providing batteries to people in the front line or just the intelligence behind all of the different activities of the armed forces. So defense is incredibly important as well as then robotics.
So increasingly, if you think about actuating every knuckle on a humanoid or every little micro drone that exists, this is an unlimited level of applications, and it starts with proving the concept and having the product that the customers understand and recognize and understand is credible, and that's what we're focused on. But the markets themselves are massive.
And we have the right product, the right technology, the right team at the right time, and that is a beautiful recipe. The other beautiful recipe here is our competitive space.
So this is on the left, this is a released micro battery. This company advertised this micro battery as being a solid-state battery, similar voltage range as our own, but take a look at that volumetric energy density and the gravimetric energy density, the specific energy, substantially lower.
But they're finding markets for these little products. So wireless cooktop sensors or a tiny wireless charging form factor.
These are opportunities that this company has identified and found but with a woefully inferior product to our own. So this puts in perspective of the opportunity ahead of us into big markets with a product that is going to win.
Switching gears a little bit here, and that is we're focusing on the product. We're focusing on the customers.
We're making traction on those fronts. The other critical front as part of the transformation of Ensurge is to get us into a fixed cost basis and a lean cost structure that allows us to focus on what matters, not on building rents, not on the heating and ventilation to power a large building, but on the technology and on attracting customers.
So we found a great building around the corner from Ensurge at a smaller footprint, which is all we need, especially with our product-led focused model that we save substantially to the company, which is about $3.5 million per year, which is a 70% reduction to what we spend now. So 70% reduction.
So 1/3 of what our total costs are and even less. And what most importantly is it brings our total cost basis down to something that's very manageable in terms of the percentage of our total burn.
So today, site-related costs are about 1/3 of every dollar we spend or each krona we spend. But moving into this new building, the terms of -- the termination agreement terms very favorable to Ensurge, allows us to get to a level where our site-related costs are only 10% of what we do.
So that allows us to focus again on what matters. The total quantum of impact to the corporation is quite substantial if you take the overall lease term and all the costs that are associated with that, plus the favorable termination agreement we've received, plus the move-in agreements we've received or that we've negotiated, saves almost $10 million for the company over the lease term.
This is substantial. And it also very excitingly for us is that it gives us a showcase facility.
It gives us the facility that is -- has natural light and an opportunity to be a showcase for our customers and our partners still in the heart of Silicon Valley in an even easier accessible location. So we are extremely excited about this move.
We have negotiated as well with the incoming tenant to have a period of transition such that we have continuity of our operations during the course of the move. That in and of itself is something that is a notable negotiation that we've accomplished to make sure that we don't skip a beat on our development while we're substantially reducing the cost to the company.
To review the financials, you'll see that the revenue has generally stayed around flat. We had some revenue in Q1.
Our operating expense is generally flat as well, accounting for the capitalization that had occurred in 2025 until around November of 2025. And we're keeping costs relatively flat while making sure we're restructuring and refocusing where we put costs so that where we put those costs matters.
We raised a new round of funding in Q2. And as mentioned in the report, the Board is evaluating numerous pathways given the going concern mentioned in the report.
To summarize, the outlook of the second half has not changed. It is still focused on commercialization.
It is to receive that external validation with a leaner cost basis by the year-end. External validation means that an outside party has understood that what we bring is credible and real and actually can perform in a repeated way.
And so what we've delivered in the first half is record performance in Q1, record reliability in Q2 with major breakthroughs in our fundamental science and our fundamental building block. We've restructured the team, which is now complete.
Now we have this fantastic team that rises to the occasion. There's energy in the building.
There's talent that knows what battery development is all about while building from the legacy of the past and continuing with some of those brilliant people who have then continued on to contribute to today. The commercial function and our finance function are now being built up so that we have a nice well-rounded team, and we can focus on our lean operating structure and maintaining that while also bringing in customers and transitioning from being R&D to a new product introduction that we do along with customers.
So the momentum right now is building in the company. And it is fun to see the dynamic right now, the energy, the buzz we have about the accomplishments we've done, the performance in Q1, the repeatability and the improvements -- dramatic improvements to our core fundamental electrolyte science.
And now we bring this in Q1 -- excuse me, in H2 in terms of a repeatable product that we demonstrate that repeatability across larger sample sizes. We advance our JDA as we typically -- as we have on the commercial front, have milestones when it comes to customer development agreements.
We will have -- we will convert this pipeline. We anticipate moving that into a multiyear development program, and we will build that story publicly.
This is a story that's worth telling. This is an opportunity for the world to have a better battery, a better micro battery, a battery that unlocks new products and brings new value to the world in a way that nobody knew by packing more electrons in that box.
And lastly, by completing that site relocation and having that fixed cost restructuring behind us, we will now have that purpose-built pilot manufacturing line that can then be focused on that battery repeatability and be a showcase for our customers. So we feel like we're just getting started.
We have our legs under us in terms of what we can do and the repeatability, that rubric of what good looks like and how we're going to bring it forward so that we can unlock the value of Ensurge to the public. And we're very excited, and we've never been more motivated.
So that concludes my prepared remarks. Happy to open it up to questions.
So please, if you could put your questions in the chat.
Shauna McIntyre
I'm not actually seeing any questions. So I might just offer a few that you might -- I might realize that I may not have shared.
So when you talk about repeatability, what does that actually mean? So I think what's important is the way we test repeatability is something that goes across multiple factors.
So repeatability doesn't mean that just one run or quad has lot of cells that work. That in and of itself is important that one run of the product actually has repeatability amongst itself.
So we're holding ourselves to a higher bar, which is then do that, that's important, but then lot to lot variation as well. So sometimes lots can change by day, by night, et cetera, by ambient conditions.
So that's an example of repeatability and the bar we're holding us to. So I did get a question.
Thank you so much. On the paid customer development agreement, what specifically remains to be agreed before it can be signed?
Is it mainly commercial terms now? Or are there still technical milestones that need to be achieved first?
Okay. Let me answer that one.
So we are negotiating -- we have been very careful to negotiate terms that are favorable to the company. It's one thing to have an agreement.
It's one thing to have a paid customer agreement. It's another thing to have the customer truly committed to developing that product with a partner.
And then lastly, it's another thing to have a paid development agreement with terms that are favorable to the company. So we're making sure all those things exist.
And it's better to be very diligent and make sure that we're doing it right rather than quickly. You said the path to PoC exit is now well defined.
What specifically remains to exit PoC? And do you believe this can be achieved during the first half of 2026 -- excuse me, during the second half of 2026?
So the PoC exit is not just about hitting the cycling data that we're looking for, for that flat curve or that near flat curve so that it aligns with customer expectation. But it's also, again, as I mentioned, doing it in repeatable form.
So we have line of sight, I would say, to being able to have the PoC. We are working across equipment and other processes to make sure that we bring those building blocks together.
But I remain confident, especially now that we've applied this rubric or this example of how we were able to put our arms around one process step and make dramatic improvements. And that kind of methodology is something that has already unlocked speed for us, and I'm excited for what's to come.
Let's see. You now say you're in active discussions with more than a dozen top-tier potential customers on multiyear development agreements.
I would not say I'm in active discussion with more than a dozen. I would say we are in active discussion with many potential customers on multiyear development agreements.
How many of these are at an advanced stage? And could we realistically see an additional paid development agreement following the first one?
I would say that typically, and I can't predict the future, but I would just say that in my experience, that first customer agreement is quite hard. It's the hardest.
It's like you're untapping a seal. So that first one does set the example and does provide credibility, external credibility for others to follow.
We're very careful, however, not to overextend ourselves because what I've also seen in my past is that when you get excited and you do lot of customer agreements, the problem is you have a fixed team that then needs to be able to address and support all those customers. So what actually worked quite well for us at Google during my time there is we had launch partners and then we had scaled partners.
And I envision something like this here where you have a launch partner and then you have your product that you develop along that launch partner and that launch partner has that special advantage for being the first. But then what you developed and you already have patented is your own product, right?
And it's our own development, we can then scale that with other customers into other segments that aren't competitive. So that gives us that scale to move across segment while keeping the simplicity or the controllability of then what we do as a team.
So I would say we're in active discussion with numerous potential customers on multiyear agreements. And I would say that we are -- I'm not going to be able to speculate on how many can possibly be signed certainly by the end of the year.
So thank you for your question. Very much appreciate it.
Okay. Let's see, how many employees are working in Ensurge now?
How many consultants are there? We really haven't got consultants.
That's not something that -- we have maybe 1 or 2 consultants. We have some advisers as well.
You'll see on our website. We have the world-leading expert in LiPON and LCO technology, Dr.
Veith. He's a distinguished scientist from Oak Ridge National Lab.
He has been an absolute joy to work with. And so he's an adviser, he comes and he advises, but he's not a consultant acting like an employee.
That's actually something that we're very careful of, California employment law would prevent that. So we have a couple of consultants, yes.
But active employees, we have about 50. I haven't counted, but it's plus or minus that.
So a small but very mighty team. Let's see.
You say the goal is to advance the Corning JDA toward completion of Phase 1. What specifically defines completion of Phase 1 and what happens commercially after that?
So I won't be able to answer the latter piece because I -- what happens commercially after that is not something that I can speculate about. But the Phase 1 of the JDA is something that's important and it's something that will validate the technology, and that's really about a single layer form and getting to performance of a single layer product.
Yes, why aren't -- okay, thanks so much for this question. Why aren't there any videos or similar showcasing the batteries and battery technologies?
Absolutely, challenge accepted. That is something that we've actually been talking about.
Salil has been on board maybe a few weeks, and that is something that we're working towards. So more to come on that because we really do want to showcase what we're doing.
It's a phenomenal technology. It is what a customer once said, and we've quoted this before, the mother of all inventions.
And having been in the company about a year now, this is something that I'm absolutely -- I 100% believe in because it unlocks so much potential in the world. All right.
I think there are more questions. Let's see.
Okay. The 4x improvement in LiPON ion conductivity and 3x improvement in process uniformity looks significant.
It is. Was LiPON one of the main technical bottlenecks preventing repeatability in PoC exit and has the bottleneck now largely been resolved?
So a very good question. I would say the LiPON was a major bottleneck.
The process steps, each process step, it has the potential to be a bottleneck. But LiPON is something that is so unique to us.
The LCO on stainless steel is also unique, but our LCO is also delivered to us by Corning as a benefit of their Ribbon Ceramic. So the LiPON because it translates across both, is -- was a critical first step for us to nail and we did.
After that, the ACC, which is the anode current collector, the dicing, the stacking, these are, I would say, important and cell design is important and encapsulation is important. Are there bottlenecks?
I would say there -- I would say the LiPON for me was probably the key thing. The other thing it did was unlock the methodology that we use.
So now we go and we swarm the next process, okay, what's the spec? What do we need it to achieve?
What are the levers that we can pull from to arrive at that? What is the other science in the world brought by Dr.
Veith who has seen this before. And we can then bring that to then accelerate the development.
I would say the LiPON breakthrough happened in a matter of weeks after identifying what all the opportunities we had to -- the levers we had to pull between the composition of all the different elements in the LiPON, the nitrogen gas going into the process, the equipment itself. And by doing that, the speed at which we were able to get those results was really exciting.
So more to come on that. Okay.
You state that additional funding will be required. Are you primarily looking at traditional equity raise?
Or could the next funding also come from strategic partners, customers or investors connected to the commercial programs? Unfortunately, I can't speculate.
So unfortunately, I can't answer that question directly. I would just say, thanks to having Bryce on board, I could not be happier to have a real thought partner here and somebody who's now going to double our efforts essentially.
It's not just me, but now I have a second -- a real partner and somebody who's got the experience from the capital markets, fundraising, deep tech. The one thing that -- Bryce is very modest.
He was a bench chemist who worked on batteries early on, polymer batteries, and now he's our CFO. So he gets it immediately.
I mean it's fantastic. And so somebody who gets the science, it's not easy to get.
And so now to translate that using videos that was suggested, absolutely totally agree to really bring our story to life and to showcase this. We're still getting to that point, but there's -- I'm very excited about what's to come by having people on board who are going to be helpful in that regard.
All right. We've got some new questions.
Let's see. Do you believe -- what do you believe investors are currently underestimating most about Ensurge?
I like the question because I do feel like we're still the diamond in the rough, right? We are something that just hasn't had its moment in the sun yet.
And we have such a miraculous team. We have such a fantastic technology.
We have wonderfully supportive investors who, believe me, I appreciate every single day. We have a Board that is supportive and in really building our -- helping us build the story.
And I truly believe that, as I just mentioned before, all these things come together as this perfect storm, so to speak, or perfect opportunity where it is the right offer to the right technology, the right opportunity. The markets are fast and moving and those markets are fast moving.
I come from the auto sector where every vehicle took 7 years. You think about the other solid-state companies doing that, solid-state battery companies doing battery technologies or other battery chemistries, they're focused on the automotive sector.
Those take so long. We're talking about consumer, defense, industrial, wearables.
These things move quickly. So we have the right technology, the right opportunity, the right team, which is a team that can deliver.
And I've just really been so pleasantly surprised by our team. And we have the right investors, we have the right story.
So now the thing is bringing that story and actually doing a much more strategic job of telling that story. And one of the reasons to bring on a commercial leader rather than it being in the back seat, let's have it in the front seat with us as we drive this exciting sports car to its next destination.
Okay. Any other questions?
One more. Okay.
Yes. You mentioned credible external validation is the H2 objective.
Who will perform that validation and what exactly needs to be independently validated? So I think the thing there is that we do have third-party labs that could certainly validate our product, and that's something that we're working towards.
It's also about commercial validation. It's what company is going to put our product in their road map and that they have overcome the -- they understand the credibility, right, that they see the credibility.
They've overcome any challenges or concerns there with the credibility, not just of the technology, but of the team that's delivering because in these multiphase, multiyear development programs, you're at the table together for many years to come. So it's not just here's a great technology and we'll go away.
This is -- here's a great technology, and we're going to follow it until it goes to production and is in customers' hands in high-volume form. So it's that credibility and that believability and that risk taking by the customers to make sure that this is something they're excited to do and they're ready to do.
And that is something that we are excited to bring on board. Okay.
Here's a question. And I think this might be a specific question I'm not able to answer, but I'll read it.
Do you expect a deal with a mentioned company within a month or 6 months? It's not speculation given an indication of progress.
So I would say we're making progress, no question, and that's what's been publicly disclosed. And so what is very soon in your perspective?
Again, I'm probably unable to put a definition on that. But I will just say that we're working diligently toward that and everything already shared publicly still applies.
How much customization does the sensor customer actually require? Is it fundamentally the same Ensurge product platform or a substantially different battery design?
It is the Ensurge product platform. That is what we're talking about.
We're not looking at anything else. That would be a degree of complexity that -- if there's one thing I've learned in 30 years of commercializing new hardware, it's that hardware likes simplicity.
So it is about focusing on making sure that, that hardware is its most simple is perhaps another statement, but being very -- without complexity, and that is then what drives quality. And then that removes, say, warranty challenges and other field issues.
So I don't anticipate adding complexity to this team. It's a very small team.
How much customization does the sensor company actually require? So I would say no company needs its own customization of the battery itself.
When we get the form factor, okay, that's where the goodness of our technology is. But right now, we don't have to worry about that.
Right now, we're still in that proof-of-concept phase. And even into engineering validation, it's really about validating the product itself.
As we get into engineering validation and move into design validation, that's when you start angling it towards the specific end use case, and that's when it has a form factor that might look different. But the actual building block of the company, the product is the same.
Yes. Will the technology and manufacturing improvements developed through the sensor program also be applicable to other customers and markets?
Absolutely. Yes.
And so this goes back to this launch and iterate type of strategy where you launch with a company and you might iterate with other companies, but you have a launch platform and you don't change your fundamental building block across companies. You might change form factor, but the actual cell design can stay consistent.
And that minimizes complexity. And back to the complexity piece, hardware doesn't like complexity.
So that's perfectly minimized. Okay.
What are the 2 or 3 milestones you believe investors should use to measure Ensurge's progress over the next 6 months? I would hold me accountable to this presentation.
I would not deviate from this presentation. There is a point why this presentation was put together, and I would say that is key.
I would say we are looking to bring on a customer with external validation, dramatically reduce our fixed costs, so that we can have a showcase facility and deliver and build on the building blocks from Q1 and Q2, the performance, the repeatability, H2 is now bringing it together. Okay.
Okay. There's one -- I'm sorry, one I missed.
I hope you recognize the enormous discrepancy between the share price and market capitalization and the way you describe Ensurge and its future prospects in this presentation and the former. If the company is genuinely as undervalued, so yes, is there -- why not somebody purchase -- speculation, sure.
If somebody -- this is a question that I think is not something I can answer. But why not a single member purchase Ensurge shares in the open market?
Sure. Everybody is open and welcome to purchase Ensurge shares in the open market.
Okay. And then I think this will be probably the last question I am able to take, but I'm happy to answer if there are any others come in, please jump in.
But encapsulation of the stainless steel layers has earlier been described as a key issue that needed to be solved. In the last report, they described -- this was actually Accelerate Capital described that the final way of encapsulating -- excuse me, they described that the final way of encapsulating the layers was not yet found.
What are the status of encapsulation as per today? So encapsulation it's just that.
It's just the hermetic seal around the product. So yes, Accelerate was accurate in their report by saying that, that is something that still needs to be done.
But it's also not rocket science. It's just a seal around the product.
Now it's also very application-specific because if you have a sensor on a drone or a micro robot or a sensor on an industrial setting or a wearable ring or a hearable, et cetera, that encapsulation to be hermetically sealed to the product might look different. So the actual -- I would say the actual technology is just a matter of having it be sealed to the ambient, the atmosphere.
And we've done that. We have the -- we use Kyocera for our little ceramic boxes, but there are other ways we can hermetically seal the product.
So that's not something I would say, to get concerned about. It's just the wrap around the product.
Let's see. I think I'm unable to -- do you believe the current share price reflects the progress Ensurge has made technically and commercially?
And what do you think needs to happen for the market to recognize that progress? I wish I knew.
Believe me, all I know is from the inside of the company and what we're building is incredibly exciting. We have the world-leading experts on our team.
The fact that we're able to cherry pick the best talent in the industry. We have the know-how in the building to solve engineering challenges, again, this is not fundamental physics.
The physics works. This is just a matter of bringing this technology into repeatable form so that it's something that can ship in scaled form.
So what I see as a company is one that has tremendous potential and one that is working in the right direction. I can't speculate or comment on the share price.
I just can't. I'm not equipped to do that.
All right. I think with that, I'm going to have to wrap up.
I really appreciate the engagement. I appreciate the questions.
I can say that I am so enthusiastic about what we're doing, and we are an energized team. We have accomplished a great deal in a short period of time and very much have the building blocks in place for what's to come.
So thank you so much. Really appreciate your time, and happy to answer questions that come in, please e-mail [email protected] with any additional questions.
Thank you so much.