Energy Vault, the US-headquartered energy storage technology provider backed by internet and telecommunications group SoftBank, cement provider Cemex and petrochemical producer Saudi Aramco, agreed to a reverse takeover today.
The company is merging with Novus Capital Corporation II, a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by investment banking firm Novus Capital and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, at a $1.1bn implied pro-forma enterprise valuation.
SoftBank Investment Advisers and corporate venturing unit Cemex Ventures are among the participants in a $100m private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing supporting the deal, as are Novus Capital and data analytics service provider Palantir.
The PIPE also features Pickering Energy Partners, Sailingstone Capital Energy Transition Strategy Fund and funds and accounts managed by Adage Capital Partners in addition to undisclosed others.
Energy Vault builds grid-scale energy storage systems based on composite bricks and mechanical cranes, for use with wind and solar power generation.
News of the transaction comes some two weeks after the company secured $100m in a series C round led by Prime Movers Lab that included SoftBank’s Vision Fund – which is managed by SoftBank Investment Advisers – and Saudi Aramco’s Energy Ventures (SAEV) subsidiary.
Pickering Energy Partners’ Energy Equity Opportunity Fund also took part in the August round, as did Helena, Idealab X, SailingStone Global Energy Transition, AT Gekko, Crexa Capital Advisors, Green Storage Solutions Venture and Gordon Crawford.
Energy Vault had received $110m in series B funding from Vision Fund and undisclosed others a year earlier, later naming SAEV, Prime Movers Lab, Helena and Idealab X as existing investors.
Cemex had already supplied an undisclosed amount of funding for the company through a mid-2019 investment by its Cemex Ventures subsidiary.
Energy Vault co-founder and CEO Robert Piconi said: “We developed our energy storage solution to get to market quickly given the urgent and global imperative to accelerate the decarbonisation of the energy sector.
“Through the deployment of our transformative technology, which can store clean energy for grid-scale deployments while uniquely utilising waste materials for beneficial reuse in the process, Energy Vault is redefining the role that energy storage companies can and should play within a circular economic framework.”
