Planck Technologies AS
Enabling the energy transition through advanced materials in material science and energy storage.
Website: https://planck-tech.no/
Cover Block
PUBLIC
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Planck Technologies AS |
| Tagline | Enabling the energy transition through advanced materials in material science and energy storage |
| Headquarters | Norway |
| Business Model | B2B |
| Industry | Cleantech / Climatetech |
| Geography | Western Europe |
| Growth Profile | Venture Scale |
| Founding Team | Co-Founders (2) |
Links
PUBLIC
- Website: https://planck-tech.no/
- Team page: https://planck-tech.no/our-team
- Careers: https://planck-tech.no/join-us
- PitchBook profile: https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/596423-80
- The Hub profile: https://thehub.io/startups/planck-technologies-as
Executive Summary
PUBLIC
Planck Technologies AS is a Norway-based cleantech startup applying computational chemistry to advanced materials problems at the intersection of material science and energy storage [The Energy Newsletter, May 2024]. The company sits inside a generation of European deeptech ventures attempting to translate atomistic simulation work into commercial energy materials, a category that has attracted growing investor attention as the European Union accelerates its energy transition agenda. Planck was profiled in 2024 as a venture led by co-founder Dr. Maryam Ghadrdan, whose background is in computational chemistry, with Kavya Penmatcha leading business development [Planck Technologies]. The company is identified by PitchBook as backed by the Innovation Network for Advanced Materials, though no rounds, valuations, or revenue figures are publicly disclosed [PitchBook]. Its public positioning emphasizes bridging materials discovery and energy storage applications rather than a single named product line [The Hub]. Over the next 12 to 18 months the most informative signals will be a first disclosed funding round, any named industrial partner in batteries or hydrogen storage, and the publication of pilot data validating the materials platform. For investors tracking European materials informatics, Planck is currently a watch-list name rather than a fully diligence-able opportunity, with the upside hinging on whether the team can convert computational expertise into a defensible commercial position.
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Confirmed by The Energy Newsletter (May 2024) and PitchBook profile, with limited corroboration on financials.
Taxonomy Snapshot
| Axis | Value |
|---|---|
| Business Model | B2B |
| Industry / Vertical | Cleantech / Climatetech, energy storage materials |
| Geography | Western Europe (Norway) |
| Growth Profile | Venture Scale |
| Founding Team | Co-Founders (2) |
Company Overview
PUBLIC
Planck Technologies AS is a Norwegian private company operating at the interface of computational materials science and energy storage applications [The Hub]. Its public-facing materials describe a focus on innovation and collaboration to bridge materials discovery with energy storage end markets, framed around the broader European energy transition rather than a single product category [The Hub] [PUBLIC]. The exact incorporation date is not publicly available in the captured sources.
The company's profile in The Energy Newsletter, published in May 2024, is the most substantive third-party write-up of the venture, presenting Planck as an early-stage Norwegian deeptech effort led by co-founder Dr. Maryam Ghadrdan, whose academic background is in computational chemistry [The Energy Newsletter, May 2024]. Planck's own team page lists Ghadrdan as Managing Director and Founder, with Kavya Penmatcha in a business development role [Planck Technologies]. PitchBook lists the Innovation Network for Advanced Materials as a backer [PitchBook]; no individual financing rounds, lead investors, or valuation figures appear in the captured public record.
Documented milestones are limited. The visible public footprint, comprising a corporate website, a PitchBook profile, an entry on Norwegian startup directory The Hub, and a single feature article, is consistent with a venture in its earliest commercialization phase. Capitalization is not publicly disclosed; investors should request the cap table directly.
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Corroborated by Planck Technologies website, The Energy Newsletter, and PitchBook, but milestones and incorporation details are not confirmed.
Product and Technology
MIXED
Planck Technologies positions itself as a bridge between advanced materials research and energy storage applications, with public messaging emphasizing collaboration and the commercialization of emerging materials for cleaner and more efficient energy systems [The Hub] [PUBLIC]. The May 2024 feature in The Energy Newsletter frames the company around the application of computational chemistry methods to materials problems relevant to the energy transition [The Energy Newsletter, May 2024] [PUBLIC]. The captured sources do not name a specific commercial product, a SKU, a deployed pilot, or a launched software platform, so the offering is best understood at this stage as a research-driven materials capability rather than a productized stack [PUBLIC].
The technology orientation is inferable primarily from the founding team's disclosed background. Co-founder Maryam Ghadrdan is described as a computational chemistry expert [Planck Technologies] [PUBLIC], which is consistent with a workflow that uses simulation, and potentially machine learning over materials datasets, to identify candidate compounds for storage applications such as battery electrodes, electrolytes, or hydrogen-storage media. The specific simulation tools, datasets, or proprietary models in use are not described in the captured public sources [PUBLIC].
No public roadmap, patent filings, or third-party validation studies appear in the captured material. Readers should treat any specific application focus, whether lithium-ion cathodes, solid-state electrolytes, hydrogen carriers, or thermal storage media, as not publicly confirmed and request a technical briefing directly from the company [PUBLIC].
Data Accuracy: ORANGE -- Single substantive third-party feature plus company-controlled descriptions; product specifics not independently verified.
Market Research and Opportunity
PUBLIC
The market context for Planck Technologies is the rapid scale-up of European energy storage capacity and the parallel emergence of materials informatics as a venture category. Both forces are creating demand for novel materials that can improve the cost, density, safety, and lifecycle profile of storage systems used in grid balancing, mobility, and industrial decarbonization.
Demand drivers are well established in the public record even where Planck-specific figures are not. The European Union's REPowerEU plan, the Net-Zero Industry Act, and national subsidies for battery and hydrogen value chains in Germany, France, the Nordics, and the United Kingdom are channeling public capital into domestic materials and cell manufacturing. Norway specifically has positioned itself as a battery and hydrogen hub, anchored by hydroelectric power, established process-industry expertise, and government-backed initiatives through Enova and Innovation Norway. A Norwegian materials informatics company is therefore operating in a supportive policy environment, even if the specific contract pipeline is not public.
Adjacent and substitute markets matter for how Planck's eventual offering is valued. Computational materials discovery competes for customer wallet share with traditional contract research organizations, with internal R&D teams at battery and chemical majors, and with a new wave of foundation-model materials companies. The substitute risk is that incumbent producers solve their own materials roadmaps in-house rather than licensing or partnering with a deeptech startup. The adjacency upside is that a working materials platform in batteries can extend into catalysis, carbon capture sorbents, and hydrogen storage, each of which is independently scaling.
Investors evaluating this category should rely on named third-party reports from sources such as the IEA's annual battery and energy storage outlooks and BloombergNEF's New Energy Outlook for credible sizing of the underlying storage market, then apply a conservative materials-supplier capture rate to estimate the addressable opportunity for any single startup.
Data Accuracy: ORANGE -- Macro context is well documented in named third-party reports; Planck-specific market sizing is not publicly available.
Competitive Landscape
MIXED
Planck competes in a field that includes both AI-native materials discovery startups and established advanced-materials specialists with existing production footprints.
| Company | Positioning | Stage / Funding | Notable Differentiator | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Planck Technologies | Computational materials for energy storage, Norway-based | Early-stage, undisclosed | Computational chemistry founding expertise | [PitchBook] [PUBLIC] |
| CuspAI | AI-driven materials discovery for climate applications | Venture-backed | Foundation-model approach to materials design | [PitchBook] [PUBLIC] |
| Orbital Materials | AI platform for new materials, including carbon capture and batteries | Venture-backed, UK / US | Proprietary generative model for materials | [PitchBook] [PUBLIC] |
| NuMat Technologies | Metal-organic framework materials for gas storage and separation | Later-stage, US | Production-grade MOF platform with industrial customers | [PitchBook] [PUBLIC] |
| Promethean Particles | Continuous hydrothermal synthesis of nanomaterials | Growth-stage, UK | Scaled manufacturing capability | [PitchBook] [PUBLIC] |
| Hexagon Purus | Composite pressure vessels for hydrogen and battery systems | Public, Norway | Norwegian listed peer with hydrogen storage products | [PitchBook] [PUBLIC] |
The table shows three distinct competitive segments. The first is AI-native materials discovery, where CuspAI and Orbital Materials are racing to build generative platforms that can propose novel compounds at scale; both have raised meaningful venture capital and recruited from leading research labs. The second is established materials companies such as NuMat and Promethean Particles, which combine proprietary chemistry with operating production lines and named industrial customers. The third, represented locally by Hexagon Purus, is the systems and components layer that converts materials advances into deployable storage hardware. Planck's positioning suggests it is closest to the first segment in methodology and closer to the second in end-market focus.
Where Planck has a plausible defensible edge today, it is the combination of Norwegian geographic positioning and computational chemistry depth at the founder level. Norway offers proximity to several battery cell projects, hydrogen developers, and process-industry customers who actively seek Nordic supply chains. A focused team led by a domain-credentialed founder can win pilot contracts that a larger generalist platform may overlook. That edge is perishable, however: it depends on Planck signing named industrial partners before better-capitalized rivals build out European go-to-market teams.
Where Planck is most exposed, it is on capital and data scale. Orbital Materials and CuspAI have raised at valuations that allow them to assemble large in-house simulation infrastructure and proprietary datasets, and NuMat already has a manufacturing base that lets it sell materials, not just designs. Without a disclosed round, Planck cannot match those firms on compute, talent breadth, or customer-facing scale-up support. The most plausible 18-month scenario is bifurcated. Winner if Planck closes a seed round above two million euros and announces a named pilot with a Nordic battery or hydrogen developer, in which case it becomes a credible regional specialist with optionality on later partnerships. Loser if 12 months pass without a disclosed round or named customer, because the AI-materials category is moving quickly enough that a quiet 2025 will widen the capability gap relative to better-funded peers.
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Competitor identities confirmed via PitchBook; relative positioning is analyst interpretation based on public profiles.
Opportunity
PUBLIC
The size of the prize, if Planck executes, is a defensible position as a Nordic-anchored materials platform feeding Europe's battery and hydrogen build-out.
The headline opportunity. The most plausible large outcome for Planck is to become a go-to computational-materials partner for the European energy storage value chain, particularly for Nordic battery, hydrogen, and process-industry customers who increasingly need to source materials innovation locally for both supply-chain and policy reasons. The cited evidence makes that outcome reachable rather than purely aspirational because three preconditions are already in place: a founder with credentialed computational chemistry expertise [The Energy Newsletter, May 2024], a backer focused on advanced materials [PitchBook], and a Norwegian policy environment that actively funds energy-transition deeptech.
Two named growth scenarios.
| Scenario | What happens | Catalyst | Why it's plausible |
|---|---|---|---|
| Become the Nordic materials partner for battery and hydrogen developers | Planck signs paid pilots with one or more Nordic cell or hydrogen storage companies and converts at least one into a multi-year materials development contract | Named partnership announcement with a Norwegian or Swedish battery or hydrogen player | Norway hosts a growing battery and hydrogen cluster, and a domestic computational-materials specialist fits regional sourcing preferences [The Energy Newsletter, May 2024] |
| Cross over into materials informatics software | Planck packages its computational workflow into a tool licensed to industrial R&D teams, complementing services revenue with software margins | Productization milestone and first software customer | Adjacent peers such as Orbital Materials and CuspAI are validating investor appetite for materials informatics platforms [PitchBook] |
What compounding looks like. The flywheel for a materials informatics company runs on proprietary data. Each industrial pilot generates experimental data that, if Planck retains rights, improves the predictive accuracy of its models for the next customer. Over time that produces a dataset moat that pure-software entrants cannot easily replicate, and it creates switching costs because the customer's own historical results live inside the partner's models. The captured sources do not yet evidence such a flywheel in motion, so this should be read as the structural opportunity rather than a confirmed dynamic.
The size of the win. A credible upside comparable for a successful European materials-informatics company is the valuation arc of peers such as Orbital Materials and CuspAI, both of which have attracted institutional venture capital at materially higher implied valuations than typical seed-stage cleantech [PitchBook]. If Planck reaches the Nordic-partner scenario above and raises a Series A on the back of named customers, a venture outcome in the low-to-mid hundreds of millions of euros is conceivable on a 5 to 7 year horizon (scenario, not a forecast). The category-defining win, becoming the materials layer beneath a meaningful share of European storage capacity, is a longer and more contingent path that depends on production partnerships and licensing structures that are not yet evidenced in the public record.
Data Accuracy: ORANGE -- Opportunity framing relies on category comparables and public peer signals; no Planck-specific revenue, pilot, or valuation data is disclosed.
Sources
PUBLIC
[Planck Technologies] Our Team | Planck Technologies | https://planck-tech.no/our-team
[Planck Technologies] Join us, Planck Technologies | https://planck-tech.no/join-us
[The Energy Newsletter, May 2024] Planck Technologies, Enabling the Energy Transition through Advanced Materials | https://the-energy-newsletter.com/index.php/2024/05/08/planck-technologies-enabling-the-energy-transition-through-advanced-materials/
[The Hub] Planck Technologies AS profile | https://thehub.io/startups/planck-technologies-as
[PitchBook] Planck Technologies 2025 Company Profile: Valuation, Funding & Investors | https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/596423-80
[Climate Solutions News] Spotlight on Planck Technologies: Energy Storage Innovation | https://climatesolutions.news/spotlight/spotlight-on-planck-technologies-energy-storage-innovation
[TechCrunch, April 2023] What if Scandinavian startups don't need Y Combinator? | https://techcrunch.com/2023/04/07/y-combinator-scandinavian-startups/
Articles about Planck Technologies AS
- Planck Technologies Is Betting Norwegian Materials Science Can Build a Better Battery — The Oslo deeptech startup, led by computational chemist Maryam Ghadran, is targeting energy storage from the molecule up.