ESS, a US-headquartered energy storage technology producer backed by corporate investors SoftBank, PTT Global, Evergy and BASF, agreed a reverse takeover with special purpose acquisition company Acon S2 Acquisition Corp yesterday.
Acon S2 floated on in a $250m initial public offering on the Nasdaq Capital Market in September 2020, and the merged business will take its listing, the deal valuing ESS at $1.1bn.
Investment and financial services group Fidelity led a $250m private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing supporting the deal that included SB Energy, part of telecommunications and investment group SoftBank, as well as chemicals producer BASF and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
ESS provides iron flow batteries for use in storing energy from commercial and utility-scale renewable energy systems. It had disclosed more than $46m in funding, having raised $30m in a late 2019 series C round co-led by SB Energy and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
Chemical provider PTT Global, BASF subsidiary BASF Venture Capital and Evergy Ventures, an affiliate of energy utility Evergy, also took part in the 2019 round, as did Cycle Capital Management, Presidio Partners Investment Management, IPM Group and Pangaea Ventures.
BASF Venture Capital led the company’s $13m series B round in 2017, participating alongside Cycle Capital Management, Presidio Partners Investment Management, IPM and Pangaea Ventures, the last of which had led its $3.2m seed round two years earlier.
