Bladon Jets, a developer of micro gas turbine engines for hybrid cars, has raised £500,000 from business angel organisation Oxford Investment Opportunity Network (OION).
Bladon Jets, a developer of micro gas turbine engines for hybrid cars, has raised £500,000 from business angel organisation Oxford Investment Opportunity Network (OION).
The company, which is working with car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover on the development of a plug-in hybrid car, secured the investment during its latest investment round. The fresh cash injection for the Shropshire-based business comes after Indian multinational Tata took a minority shareholding in September.
The company’s technology enables the production of efficient and lightweight gas turbine engines that are used in hybrid electric vehicles as well as in power generation.
Bladon Jets chairman Paul Barrett says: ‘We want to establish micro gas turbine engines as the range-extending power source of choice for hybrid car manufacturers. But there is also significant potential for our micro gas turbines in combined heat and power units and other small-scale power generating units, not least in India.’
Eileen Modral, investment manager at OION, which comprises more than 150 active business angels and makes individual investments of up to £2 million, adds: ‘Clearly, hybrid and electric vehicles are going to be a dramatically growing market in the coming years.’
