Nexeon raises over $200m for silicon-anode production
British battery developer Nexeon secured over 200 million dollars to fund battery materials manufacturing. The company speaks of soon making “tens of thousands of metric tonnes” of its silicon-based anode materials and mentions supplying Tier 1 OEMs.
Nexeon left names undisclosed. We heard about the company first in 2016. Already then, Nexeon focused on silicon anodes for Li-ion batteries. Compared to carbon anodes, Nexeon batteries claim almost ten times more gravimetric capacity per gram.
As for the capital, the second close of its fundraising resulted in $170 million. Additionally, a further $50Mn of commercial investments were made in Nexeon’s technologies due to the investment round. $220m are equivalent to €216m or £182m.
Ingevity Corporation is among the key investors and joins “a strong shareholder group with extensive manufacturing and automotive market experience,” said Nexeon. GLY Mobility Fund, Korea’s Daishin Private Equity, and Shinhan Investments also participated in the second round. SKC, one of Korea’s leading advanced materials companies and private equity firm SJL are also investors.
In 2016, Nexeon planned to open a lab in Asia and build a larger factory. In today’s statement, the company did not provide details, but the website shows that the company has established offices in the UK and Japan. Nexeon adds it has commissioned a state-of-the-art development and manufacturing facility in Oxfordshire. It enables the company to understand how various materials perform in commercial production.
“This oversubscribed funding round and other investments provide us with all the resources we need to execute the manufacturing strategy for our game-changing battery technology,” said Scott Brown, Nexeon CEO. “We have already doubled in size this year as we have started to scale up.”
Nexeon did not disclose any production capacity other than “tens of thousands of metric tonnes” in future, as mentioned above.
In Japan, the team comprises scientists and engineers recruited from the industry. Nexeon also stressed proximity to its customers in the UK and Japan.
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