Recorded Future, Liquid Metal Battery Raise VC Rounds

Two Boston-area companies that don’t do a lot of talking in the media are making some noise today.

They don’t have much in common, except that each is working on a really big technological problem in society with a pretty novel approach (and they’re getting some funding news out before the holiday weekend). As usual, there’s much more to these companies than just their funding news, so stay tuned.

—Liquid Metal Battery, an MIT spinout working on grid-scale energy storage, has raised $15 million more to complete its Series B financing. Khosla Ventures led the round, joined by Bill Gates and energy firm Total. I have no idea what a liquid metal battery is, but presumably it could be a more cost-effective way of storing energy from sustainable sources like wind and solar, as compared to existing alternatives.

—Recorded Future, a data analytics startup based in Cambridge, MA, has raised a $12 million Series C round led by new investor Balderton Capital. Previous investors Google Ventures, Atlas Venture, IA Ventures, and In-Q-Tel also participated in the round. Recorded Future is developing analysis and visualization tools to help government agencies and financial institutions make predictions based on data across the Web.

Author: Gregory T. Huang

Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003. Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.