Sila Nanotechnologies, a US-based battery materials producer backed by corporates Daimler, Siemens, Samsung and Amperex, recently secured $590m in its series F round, it announced yesterday.
The round was led by investment manager Coatue and included funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price, as well as 8VC, Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP), Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Sutter Hill Ventures. It valued Sila Nano at $3.3bn post-money.
Founded in 2011, Sila Nano has developed a silicon-based anode it claims is 20% more efficient than the lithium-ion chemistry currently used in most batteries powering electric cars and portable electronic devices.
The capital will help fund development of a second manufacturing plant for the company, adding to its existing facility in the Californian city of Alameda. It plans to recruit 100 new staff members this year, with production slated to begin at the new plant in 2024.
Gene Berdichevsky, Sila Nani’s co-founder and chief executive, said: “For any new technology to make an impact in the real-world, it has to scale, which will cost billions of dollars.
“We know from our experience building our production lines in Alameda that investing in our next plant today will keep us on track to be powering cars and hundreds of millions of consumer devices by 2025.”
Sila Nano has now secured $934m in funding altogether, having raised $70m in a 2018 series D round led by Sutter Hill Ventures that included advanced battery producer Amperex and Next47, a corporate venturing subsidiary of industrial equipment and appliance maker Siemens.
Consumer electronics manufacturer Samsung, BVP, Chengwei Capital, Matrix Partners and In-Q-Tel were named as existing investors at the time of the 2018 round but Sila Nano has not disclosed details of its earlier funding.
Automotive manufacturer Daimler led the $170m first tranche of the company’s series E round in April 2019, investing with Next47, BVP, Sutter Hill Ventures, 8VC, Chengwei Capital and Matrix Partners at a reported $1bn valuation. The round closed at $219m six months later, according to a securities filing.
