Arcturus raises $8M to boost electrical grid efficiency

Arcturus, a startup based in Malibu, California, has raised $8 million in a seed round—an early-stage funding round—to develop nano-infused copper and aluminum materials. The company’s technology is designed to reduce energy loss in electrical conductors. The funding round was led by Initialized Capital, with participation from several other investors:

• Toyota Ventures
• Breakthrough Energy Discovery
• 1517
• Wireframe Ventures

The company’s process uses lasers to infuse carbon nanomaterials into copper and aluminum, reducing the amount of energy that electrical conductors lose to heat. The resulting material is engineered to serve as a direct replacement in existing applications, utilizing the same form factors without requiring system redesigns or new training for workers to handle or crimp the material. According to the company, replacing traditional metals with this material could cut energy losses on the electrical grid in half. In practical terms, this shift could unlock around 3% more electricity on average, and up to 10% during peak congestion times when the grid is under the most stress.

“Copper loses conductivity as it heats up, so the hotter it gets, the more energy it wastes as heat,” said Amir Mashal, founder and CEO of Arcturus.

While the U.S. electrical grid is showing its age and demand for copper is projected to rise through 2050, Arcturus is initially targeting smaller-scale applications. The company is focusing on drones, robotics, and data centers, where energy bottlenecks are common and reducing heat loss can lower the electricity needed for cooling. Mashal noted that these industries face similar constraints, whether the goal is to double a drone’s flight time or prevent a graphics card from overheating.

Mashal has been developing the materials in a garage in Malibu, California, where he is currently able to produce several centimeters of wire as a proof of concept. With the new seed funding, the company plans to scale production to tens of meters. This expansion will allow the nano-infused materials to be tested in various applications, including electric motor windings and busbars—the conductive strips used for power distribution in electrical equipment.

Why it matters

As AI and electrification strain aging infrastructure, material science innovations like Arcturus’s nano-infused metals offer a potential path to increase grid capacity without requiring complete system redesigns.