Hatch doesn’t just advise founders on how to build deep tech companies. The co-founders have done it themselves. In August 2022 Lesley Blaine and Chris Gregory co-founded KYMA Battery Technologies, a US grid storage company built around repurposed EV battery modules. Two years later the demonstrator cascade was complete, the products were certified for commercial use, and the founders exited cleanly.
The thesis
The US grid storage market was accelerating into a supply gap that new-cell production alone could not close. First-generation EV batteries were reaching end of service — modules being landfilled or destructively recycled despite functional cells. KYMA’s thesis: intake those modules, test and repackage them into grid-storage systems with a battery management system engineered for mixed-source, chemistry-agnostic operation, and enter the market with a unit-economics and embodied-carbon profile no new-cell competitor could match.
What was built
A three-entity corporate structure separating product revenue from asset ownership. A 90-acre Wisconsin site with a 13,000 sq ft operational facility, battery-handling permits and utility tie-ins. A partner network spanning residential design, inverter supply, battery management and containerised grid-storage design.
Then the demonstrator cascade:
- 10 kW residential system — September 2023
- 50 kW commercial UPS — February 2024
- 1 MW containerised grid system on utility test — June 2024
- Full commercial certification across residential, commercial UPS and grid configurations from 250 kW to 3 MW — September 2024
The transatlantic operating model
Engineering leadership, commercial strategy and investor management ran from the UK throughout. Site development, regulatory engagement, hiring and customer-facing delivery ran from Wisconsin. That model UK-based founders building, certifying and exiting a US deep tech company without relocating is the transferable capability KYMA established.
The exit
Lesley and Chris exited cleanly ahead of a subsequent change of control. No ongoing equity. No operational involvement. The company was built, certified and handed over in just over two years.
What this means for founders
A UK-based founding team can incorporate, seed-fund, site, staff, partner, demonstrate and certify a US deep tech company inside two years. KYMA is the evidence.
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