Sweden-based advanced battery developer Northvolt has secured $600m in a funding round co-led by automotive manufacturer Volkswagen, investment bank Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division and investment management firm Baillie Gifford.
Commercial vehicle producer Scania took part in the round, as did Baron Capital, Bridford Investments, Norrsken VC, PCS Holding and Imas Foundation, the sister entity of Ingkea Foundation, the owner of home furniture chain Ikea’s retail outlets.
Private investors Cristina Stenbeck, the principal owner of investment firm Kinnevik, and Daniel Ek, co-founder and chief executive of music streaming service Spotify, also participated.
Founded in 2016 as SGF Energy, Northvolt has created lithium-ion batteries specifically for the automotive and industrial sectors, as well as grid-scale energy storage. It will use the funding to expand its production and recycling capabilities and to drive R&D activities.
The company plans to reach 150GWh of manufacturing output in Europe by 2030. It expects its recycling facility to be the largest in Europe for recycling metals including lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese – with a stated goal of 50% of raw materials in its batteries coming from recycled units.
Volkswagen co-led a $1bn equity and debt round in June 2019 together with Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division, while Imas Foundation and pension fund AMF also invested.
Northvolt previously obtained some $90m in equity and project financing altogether, according to Nordic9, including $560,000 from power producer Vattenfall in 2017 before the company supplied a further $13.7m in January 2019.
Wind turbine manufacturer Vestas invested $11.2m in late 2017, before industrial technology group Siemens provided $11.6m in early 2018 and energy utility Skellefteå Kraft put in $11.8m a month later.
Scania injected $11.4m through a partnership deal agreed with Northvolt in January 2019.
