Quino Energy

What Quino Energy does

Quino Energy is a venture-backed, pre-revenue startup founded in 2021 and headquartered in San Leandro, California, that is commercializing aqueous organic redox flow battery (QRFB) technology originally developed at Harvard University. The company's core product is a water-based flow battery that uses dissolved quinone molecules (anthraquinone-based electrolytes) as the active material, targeting 8–24 hour mid-duration energy storage applications where lithium-ion becomes cost-inefficient. Its technical differentiators include a zero-waste continuous electrochemical production process (at Manufacturing Readiness Level 7) that converts coal-tar-derived dyestuffs into battery reactants inside the flow battery stack itself, eliminating dedicated chemical factories and critical mineral dependencies, as well as a mildly alkaline, chloride-free electrolyte that is backward-compatible with existing vanadium flow battery hardware and with repurposed carbon steel oil storage tanks (Large Tank Form Factor variant).

Quino generates revenue, in principle, through sales of its proprietary organic electrolyte to flow battery OEMs and through deployment of complete battery systems for utilities, healthcare facilities, and island microgrids, supplemented by multi-year operations and maintenance contracts. To date, the bulk of capital supporting development has come from non-dilutive grants—approximately $22.18 million cumulatively from the U.S. Department of Energy (AMMTO, CiFER) and the California Energy Commission (EPIC)—and from venture equity totaling roughly $14.55 million in seed funding plus a $10 million Series A led by Atri Energy Transition in November 2025. Named customer deployments include an 8 MWh system at High Desert Regional Health Center in Lancaster, California, a MWh-scale island microgrid in Himandhoo, Maldives (manufactured by Atri in Pune, India), and a 5 MWh Southern California deployment under the DOE CiFER program.

The company operates with a small team (1–10 employees) and executes primarily through partnerships: Electrosynthesis Company runs the Buffalo, NY pilot production line; Suqian Time Energy Storage and TerraFlow Energy supply compatible hardware; and Long Hill Energy Partners leads project development for the High Desert deployment. Distribution is direct enterprise sales to utilities, healthcare systems, and government/institutional customers, supplemented by an OEM channel that embeds Quino's electrolyte chemistry into third-party flow battery stacks. Co-founders Eugene Beh (CEO, formerly Xerox PARC's Most Prolific Inventor) and Meisam Bahari (CTO), together with scientific co-founders Michael Aziz and Roy Gordon of Harvard, anchor the technical leadership.

Name

Quino Energy

Legal name

Quino Energy, Inc.

Website

https://quinoenergy.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Quino Energy is a San Leandro-based startup commercializing Harvard-licensed aqueous organic redox flow battery technology that uses dissolved quinones for 8–24 hour grid-scale energy storage, serving utilities, healthcare facilities, and island microgrids through OEM hardware partnerships and grant-funded demonstration projects.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Grid-Scale Energy Storage Batteries

NAICS

Battery Manufacturing (33591), Chemical Manufacturing (325)

SIC

Industrial Organic Chemicals (2860)

akta.pro primary industry

Electrochemical LDES (Flow Batteries & Other Long-Duration Batteries) (EUAFADAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Battery Materials Refining & Re-Manufacturing Feedstocks (Li, Ni, Co, Mn, Graphite Salts) (EUAIAIAJ)

Keywords

• Organic flow batteries
• Long-duration energy storage
• Grid-scale storage
• Quinone battery chemistry
• Redox flow batteries

Headquarters

HQ city

San Leandro

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Organic Flow Battery Electrolyte Sales: Sale of proprietary quinone-based organic electrolyte for flow batteries. Production capacity of up to 100 kWh per day at Buffalo pilot line. Compatible with existing vanadium flow battery hardware.
2. Flow Battery System Deployment: Commercial deployment of complete flow battery systems for grid-scale energy storage applications including healthcare facilities, island microgrids, and industrial sites.
3. Operations & Maintenance Services: Five-year O&M support provided for deployed battery systems (e.g., Himandhoo Island project with Atri Energy Transition).
4. Government Grants & Incentives: Non-dilutive funding from DOE AMMTO ($4.58M), California Energy Commission ($10M), DOE CiFER ($5M), DOE LTFF ($2.6M) to support technology development and demonstration projects.

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Quino Energy manufactures and sells water-based organic redox flow batteries that use proprietary quinone-based reactants (anthraquinones) dissolved in water to store electrical energy for 8-24 hour long-duration applications. The company also produces and sells its proprietary organic electrolyte via a zero-waste continuous electrochemical process and offers a Large Tank Form Factor (LTFF) variant deployable in repurposed carbon steel oil storage tanks. End products include complete flow battery systems for utilities, healthcare facilities, island microgrids, and data centers.

Product overview

Quino Energy offers water-based organic flow batteries that store electrical energy in quinone molecules for grid-scale and commercial applications. The core product is the Aqueous Organic Quinone Redox Flow Battery (QRFB), complemented by proprietary organic electrolyte produced via a zero-waste continuous manufacturing process. The company also provides Large Tank Form Factor (LTFF) variants adapted for repurposed carbon steel oil storage tanks. These products are designed for 8-24 hour mid-duration storage, offering backward compatibility with existing vanadium flow battery hardware while achieving significantly lower costs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Aqueous Organic Quinone Redox Flow Battery (QRFB) Water-based flow battery technology using proprietary organic quinone molecules dissolved in water as active materials, delivering 8-24 hour long-duration grid-scale and commercial energy storage with true fire safety, no critical minerals, and backward compatibility with vanadium flow battery hardware. Sold to utilities, healthcare facilities, island microgrid developers, and data center operators.
• Organic Electrolyte for Flow Batteries Proprietary mildly alkaline, chloride-free organic electrolyte produced via a zero-waste continuous-flow electrochemical process using coal tar chemicals. Sold to flow battery hardware OEMs and integrated into Quino's own battery systems; compatible with vanadium flow battery hardware and carbon steel tanks.
• Large Tank Form Factor (LTFF) Redox Flow Battery System Quinone redox flow battery system adapted for deployment in repurposed carbon steel oil storage tanks under mildly alkaline (pH ~12) conditions, enabling lower installed costs, faster permitting, and higher energy density. Targeted at oil & gas asset owners and large industrial sites seeking repurposable storage infrastructure.

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and flagship.

• Suqian Time Energy StoragecoreTechnology or Integration · 24 June 2026Supplier of flow battery hardware for Quino's organic electrolyte. Provides battery hardware for Himandhoo Island Maldives project and is parent company of Jena Flow Batteries with whom Quino signed a Joint Development Agreement. Hardware originally designed for vanadium flow batteries, adapted for use with Quino's organic electrolyte.
• Jena Flow BatteriesminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 June 2026Joint Development Agreement signed for flow battery energy storage. Parent company is Suqian Time Energy Systems, the flow battery hardware provider for Himandhoo project. Collaboration on chemistry-to-solution integration.
• TerraFlow EnergycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 July 2025Strategic agreement to advance organic electrolyte chemistries for large-format flow battery solutions. Partnership supports TerraFlow's LDUPS (Long Duration Uninterruptible Power Supply) solutions for AI data centers, industrial operations, and remote infrastructure. Quino provides patented water-soluble quinone chemistry; TerraFlow provides large-format tank architecture. Announced at IFBF 2025 in Vienna.
• Long Hill Energy PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 April 2025Co-recipient of $10M California Energy Commission grant for 8 MWh organic flow battery project at High Desert Regional Health Center, Lancaster, CA. Long Hill serves as lead for project development, permitting, and program management. Ed Chiao, Long Hill Managing Director, serves on Quino's Advisory Board as Strategy Advisor.
• Electrosynthesis CompanycoreTechnology or Integration · 18 March 2024DOE-funded partner operating Quino's pilot electrolyte production line in Buffalo, NY. Developed and currently operates the MRL 7 production line that converts dyestuff chemicals into high-performance quinone battery active material using modified flow battery stacks. Production capacity up to 100 kWh/day.
• Harvard UniversityflagshipTechnology or Integration · 19 October 2022Exclusive worldwide license from Harvard Office of Technology Development to commercialize aqueous organic flow battery technology including quinone and hydroquinone compounds as active electrolyte materials. Technology developed by Michael Aziz and Roy Gordon labs at Harvard SEAS and Department of Chemistry. Co-founders Eugene Beh and Meisam Bahari were postdoctoral researchers at Harvard.
• Clean Coalition GroupminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerCommunity-based nonprofit specializing in development and testing of clean energy microgrids. Partner in High Desert Regional Health Center project providing community engagement and microgrid design expertise.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• CMBlu Energy: German company developing organic flow batteries using lignin-based redox materials for grid-scale long-duration storage. The closest direct competitor to Quino, both pursuing organic aqueous flow battery chemistry to replace vanadium, targeting the same 8-24 hour LDES market.
• ESS Inc. US-based iron flow battery company targeting long-duration energy storage for utilities and commercial customers. Direct competitor to Quino in the LDES space with a different chemistry (iron vs. organic quinone) but addressing identical use cases and customer segments.
• Invinity Energy Systems: Vanadium redox flow battery manufacturer headquartered in the UK, producing modular flow battery systems for grid storage and commercial applications. Competes with Quino in the same long-duration storage market and has signed hardware partnership agreements with similar OEMs.
• CellCube (Enerox GmbH): Austrian vanadium redox flow battery manufacturer targeting commercial and industrial customers with containerized flow battery systems. Direct peer in flow battery LDES with similar GTM focus on critical infrastructure backup and renewable integration.
• Redflow Limited: Australian zinc-bromine flow battery company focused on commercial and industrial behind-the-meter applications. Competes with Quino in the long-duration battery market with a different aqueous chemistry, targeting similar telecom, microgrid, and commercial backup use cases.
• Form Energy: US iron-air battery company developing 100+ hour duration storage for utility-scale applications. Competes with Quino for the same utility LDES market but at longer durations (100+ hours vs. 8-24 hours), and has attracted substantially more capital.
• Largo Clean Energy: Subsidiary of Largo Inc. (vanadium producer) deploying vanadium redox flow battery systems for long-duration storage. Direct peer competing with Quino's chemistry with vertically integrated vanadium supply as a potential cost advantage.
• EnerVenue: US startup commercializing nickel-hydrogen batteries for long-duration stationary storage targeting utility, microgrid, and behind-the-meter applications. Competes with Quino for the same LDES customer segments with a different non-lithium, non-flow chemistry.

Broad incumbents

• Sumitomo Electric Industries: Japanese conglomerate with the longest commercial track record in vanadium redox flow batteries, including large-scale utility deployments. Broad incumbent whose installed base and manufacturing scale represent both competitive threat and potential OEM partner for Quino's chemistry.
• Lockheed Martin (GridStar Energy Storage): Lockheed Martin's grid-scale flow battery program targeting long-duration storage for utilities and military installations. Broad incumbent with deep R&D resources and government relationships that overlap with Quino's DOE-funded commercialization path.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/quinoenergy
• Facebookfacebook.com/quinoenergy
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/quinoenergy

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds9 records

Investors9 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Quino Energy