Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment, and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong.
Take two mins to learn more
3 Jul 2026
EverQuest Capital Partners has invested in TaiSan, a UK deeptech company developing advanced polymer electrolytes that enable a new generation of safer, lighter and lower-cost sodium-ion batteries. The investment forms part of a £4.65 million seed round alongside Eos Advisory and Mercia Ventures through the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II, alongside a syndicate of leading European deeptech investors.
Unlocking the next generation of battery technology
As demand for electrification accelerates across mobility, energy storage and industrial applications, battery manufacturers are searching for alternatives to conventional lithium-ion chemistry - alternatives that offer greater supply chain resilience, improved safety and meaningfully lower cost.
Sodium is one of the most abundant elements on Earth, making it an attractive foundation for next-generation energy storage. Yet traditional sodium-ion batteries have historically been larger and heavier than their lithium counterparts, constraining adoption to stationary energy storage applications. TaiSan is changing that. Its proprietary Nadal™ polymer electrolyte enables sodium-ion batteries that are significantly lighter, more compact and inherently safer - without sacrificing performance.
Unlike conventional liquid electrolytes, TaiSan's polymer electrolyte is non-flammable, uses non-toxic materials and has demonstrated industry-leading electrochemical performance, including over 3,600 charge-discharge cycles. Critically, the technology is designed for compatibility with existing lithium-ion manufacturing infrastructure, reducing capital requirements and lowering the barrier to commercial adoption at scale.
A capital-efficient route to commercialisation
One of the characteristics that drew EverQuest to TaiSan is the clarity of its commercial strategy.
Rather than pursuing the capital-intensive route of constructing battery gigafactories, TaiSan intends to license its technology and supply proprietary battery materials directly to established manufacturers. This asset-light model enables rapid international scaling while leveraging existing production capacity across the global battery ecosystem.
Commercial momentum is already building. TaiSan has secured more than fifteen Letters of Intent spanning battery manufacturers, chemical producers and automotive customers. Pilot programmes are underway in micromobility - one of the fastest-growing segments in sustainable transport - with further applications in power tools, medical devices and passenger EVs on the roadmap.
World-class technical leadership
TaiSan was founded by Sanzhar Taizhan, whose background spans electrochemical research at Jaguar Land Rover and The Faraday Institution. He is supported by a management team and advisory board drawn from Jaguar Land Rover, Rivian, Faradion, Mercia and InnoEnergy - combining deep battery science with proven commercial and investment expertise.
The company has received significant industry recognition, including "Best Growth Potential" and "Startup of the Year 2025", reflecting growing confidence in both its technology and the scale of the opportunity it addresses.
"We built TaiSan around a simple conviction: that the next leap in battery performance won't come from optimising existing cell designs, but from rethinking the chemistry underneath them," said Sanzhar Taizhan, Founder and CEO of TaiSan. "This funding lets us move from proven laboratory results to commercial-scale production, and we're delighted to have EverQuest and our broader investor syndicate behind us."
Why EverQuest invested
TaiSan is precisely the kind of company EverQuest was established to back: a deep technology business solving a critical industrial challenge, with a differentiated approach, defensible IP and a credible path to commercial scale.
Its innovation addresses fundamental bottlenecks in battery safety, cost, sustainability and supply chain resilience - while deliberately avoiding the capital intensity of battery cell manufacturing. By developing enabling materials rather than competing with cell manufacturers directly, TaiSan has the potential to become a foundational technology supplier to the next generation of energy storage.
The investment also benefits from EverQuest's exclusive origination partnership with the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), which brings directly relevant technical expertise in advanced materials and process scale-up - an advantage that is particularly meaningful as TaiSan moves from pilot to production.
Peter Smith, Partner at EverQuest Capital Partners, commented: "TaiSan addresses a genuinely hard problem - making sodium-ion batteries competitive on the metrics that matter to manufacturers and end users alike. The Nadal™ polymer electrolyte is a chemistry-level innovation, not a packaging incrementation, and that distinction matters enormously when thinking about defensibility and long-term value creation. We look forward to working closely with Sanzhar and the team as they scale."