SES, a Singapore-headquartered lithium-metal battery developer backed by corporates General Motors, Applied Materials, SAIC Motor and SK Group, agreed yesterday to a reverse merger with special purpose acquisition company Ivanhoe Capital Acquisition Corp.
The merged business will be valued at $3.6bn in the transaction and will take up Ivanhoe Capital Acquisition Corp’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange, acquired through a $276m initial public offering earlier this month.
The deal will be supported by a $200m private placement featuring carmakers General Motors (GM), Hyundai, Kia, Geely and SAIC Motor, contract electronics manufacturer Foxconn, Koch Strategic Platforms and LG Technology Ventures, representing chemical and energy conglomerate Koch Industries and electronics producer LG respectively.
Singapore state-owned investment firm Temasek’s Vertex Ventures unit also took part in the private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing, as did Fidelity Investments Canada on behalf of investment and financial services group Fidelity, and fund manager Franklin Templeton.
Spun out of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2012 and formerly known as SolidEnergy Systems, SES is working on lithium-metal (li-metal) battery technology for applications such as electric vehicles.
The proceeds of the reverse merger will support the company’s growth plans and its transition into a commercialisation phase expected to begin in 2025.
The company’s last funding was a $139m series D round in April 2021 led by GM that included Applied Ventures, a subsidiary of semiconductor technology producer Applied Materials, as well as conglomerate SK Group, SAIC Motor, Temasek and Vertex Ventures, with SK listed as an existing investor.
SES had closed $34m in series C funding from unnamed investors in 2018 to increase its total funding to $50m before adding $28.9m from five undisclosed investors 10 months later, according to a regulatory filing.
GM led the company’s $12m series B round, in 2016, which drew in SAIC Motor, Applied Ventures and all the participants in its its series A round, SES having picked up $6.7m from unspecified investors the previous year.