SubSea Craft's Bold Bet on UK Battery Tech: A 40% Stake in LORILLION

Jan de Vries · 2026-08-14

When a defense-focused maritime company drops millions into a Coventry-based battery specialist, it's worth paying attention. SubSea Craft has just acquired a 40% equity stake in LORILLION, a move that's less about diversification and more about securing a critical piece of the UK's industrial future. This isn't just another funding round. It's a strategic alignment between two companies that see the same battlefield—and it's not just on the water. The investment is designed to strengthen the UK's sovereign capability to design, industrialise, and manufacture specialist battery systems for defense, marine, and automotive sectors. ### Why This Investment Matters Now Modern defense runs on batteries. From covert underwater operations to electric vehicle fleets, the demand for high-performance, reliable energy storage has never been greater. But the UK has historically relied on overseas suppliers for these critical components. That's a vulnerability. SubSea Craft's investment changes that equation. By taking a 40% stake in LORILLION, they're not just buying technology—they're buying control over the supply chain. It's a calculated move to keep mission-critical systems in British hands. Richie Frost, CEO of LORILLION, put it plainly: "Our strategic partnership with SubSea Craft will accelerate the development of key battery technologies and a dedicated battery-pack manufacturing capability, enabling a vital end-to-end sovereign capability in the UK." ### What LORILLION Brings to the Table Founded in 2023, LORILLION is a young company with a serious mandate. They specialize in rapid development of bespoke battery systems for demanding, highly regulated applications—think defense, marine, aerospace, and automotive. Their services span the full lifecycle, from initial concept development to product design, validation, certification, and production. Here's what the fresh capital will unlock: - Expansion of the engineering team to over 70 people - Acceleration of proprietary battery-management technology - Support for a new production facility in the Midlands, opening next year That's a significant ramp-up for a company that's barely two years old. ### The VICTA Connection: Batteries That Go Deep SubSea Craft's flagship platform, VICTA, is a dual-domain maritime vessel capable of high-speed surface transit before transitioning to a wet, subsurface mode for covert delivery of operators and equipment. It's built to operate in contested and denied environments, enabling discreet manned and unmanned effects across subsurface, surface, and air domains. With this investment, LORILLION is developing a bespoke pressure-tolerant battery system for VICTA, designed to operate at depths exceeding 164 feet (50 meters). That's not your everyday EV battery pack. Camilla Martin, CEO of SubSea Craft, explained the strategic logic: "Modern defense capability is only as resilient as the industrial base behind it. Our investment in LORILLION is about more than securing batteries. It is about securing the engineering knowledge, manufacturing capability and freedom of action required to develop and sustain strategically important British technology." ### A Win-Win for Both Companies For LORILLION, this investment provides the capital and credibility needed to scale. For SubSea Craft, it secures a dedicated design and manufacturing partner working directly alongside their engineering teams. That means faster development cycles, tighter control over performance, and a more resilient supply chain. Martin added, "For VICTA, the battery is not a commodity component. It is a mission-critical system. Having a UK design and manufacturing partner working directly alongside our engineering teams will allow us to accelerate development, maintain control of performance and strengthen the resilience of our supply chain." ### The Bigger Picture This deal is a microcosm of a larger trend: nations and companies alike are rethinking where critical technologies come from. In an era of global supply chain disruptions and geopolitical uncertainty, sovereign capability isn't just a buzzword—it's a strategic imperative. SubSea Craft's investment in LORILLION is a signal. It says that the UK is serious about maintaining control over its defense and clean-energy future. And for anyone watching the intersection of maritime tech and battery innovation, this is a partnership worth tracking. The VICTA Class craft is just the first in a series of multi-domain platforms. With LORILLION's battery expertise in the fold, the possibilities for what comes next are, quite literally, deeper than ever.