Bladon Jets, a developer of micro gas turbine engines for cars and power generation, has raised GBP500,000 in a recent funding round from members of the Oxford Investment Opportunity Network, a European technology investment network.
Bladon Jets is working with car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover on the development of a micro gas turbine engine to operate in a plug-in hybrid car.
A Jaguar C-X75 super car incorporating two Bladon Jets micro gas turbines was recently unveiled at the Paris Motor Show and the Los Angeles Motor Show.
Indian multinational Tata recently announced that it is making an investment in Bladon Jets for a minority shareholding.
Bladon Jets has also recently led a consortium that won a UK Technology Strategy Board funding award for developing low carbon vehicle technology. The GBP2.4m award is for development of a turbine generator purposely designed for a car, and requires match-funding. Bladon Jets will use the Oxford Investment Opportunity Network investment to help continue the TSB programme.
Eileen Modral, OION investment manager, says: “We congratulate the Bladon Jets team on their successful fundraising. Clearly, hybrid and electric vehicles are going to be a dramatically growing market in the coming years. There is no doubt that Bladon Jets is well positioned to take advantage of this.”
