U.S. advanced materials startup Arcturus has raised $8 million in seed funding for next-generation conductor technology that reduces energy losses on power grids.

TechCrunch reported on June 30 that Arcturus is developing a technology that uses a laser process to inject carbon nano material into copper and aluminium. It aims to reduce heat generated in conductors and transmit more power efficiently.

The company’s core technology is designed to allow a larger current to flow while keeping existing wire sizes unchanged. Arcturus explained that using its new material instead of existing copper wires could cut energy losses on the grid that are dissipated as heat by up to half.

The company said it expects the approach to provide an additional power supply effect of about 3 percent on average and up to 10 percent during hours of peak grid load. Amir Mashal (아미르 마샬), founder and chief executive of Arcturus, said the spread of AI and electrification across industries is placing a new burden on power grids. "As AI and the electrification of almost every industry happen at the same time, the power grid is getting closer and closer to an overloaded state," he said.

Arcturus also sees copper supply shortages as a key market opportunity. Global copper demand is rising rapidly due to the energy transition and the expansion of data centres. Some studies project that by 2050 humanity will need to produce more additional copper than has been mined so far.

The company sees improving efficiency with the same materials, rather than using more copper, as a practical solution.

It is also pursuing its commercialisation strategy in stages. Arcturus has chosen drones, robots and data centres as early application areas rather than large-scale power grids. It said small percentage gains in power efficiency can have a big impact on performance and operating costs in those industries. It expects that reduced heat generation would also cut the energy needed for cooling, helping improve data centre operating efficiency.

Mashal said ease of adoption in existing industries is another advantage. He said its material is a drop-in that can directly replace existing copper and aluminium, and can be used in existing manufacturing processes without redesigning systems or retraining workers.

The seed round was led by Initialized Capital, with Toyota Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Discovery, 1517 and Wireframe Ventures also investing. Arcturus, which has operated in stealth, is currently able to produce proof-of-concept wires measuring several centimetres in length in Malibu, California.

The company plans to use the funds to scale production to tens of metres and verify performance in industrial components such as electric motor windings and busbars for power distribution equipment.

Arcturus expects its technology could be used over the longer term across areas including extending drone flight times, improving electric vehicle efficiency and reducing data centre cooling costs. Mashal said, "We can solve bottlenecks that many industries share, such as doubling drone flight time or reducing heat generated by graphics cards." He added, "We hope our material becomes a new foundational technology that improves power efficiency."

The industry sees new materials technology that can improve efficiency while maintaining existing copper-based infrastructure as one of the core competitive strengths of next-generation power grids, as investment in AI data centres and power infrastructure expands rapidly.