2023年2月1日

電池初創公司Our Next Energy今天上午宣布，已完成3億美元的B輪融資，以使其16億美元的超級工廠投入運營。新一輪融資後，該公司的估值為12億美元，標誌著這家成立兩年半的公司的驚人增長，該公司於2021年10月完成了2500萬美元的a輪融資，並於2022年3月完成了6500萬美元的A1輪融資。ONE公司由Mujeeb Ijaz創立，他是福特、A123係統和蘋果汽車部門的資深人士。ONE公司一直致力於尋找低成本、高可用性的電池化學材料。這個超級工廠將生產磷酸鋰鐵電池，也就是人們熟知的LFP。Ijaz告訴TechCrunch，其密歇根工廠的第一批20千兆瓦時的產能將於明年年底上線，剩餘的180千兆瓦時將在未來三年內逐步增加。新一輪融資由Fifth Wall和Franklin Templeton領投，成長型股權投資機構淡馬錫(Temasek)、Riverstone Holdings和Coatue也加入;風險投資公司AI Capital Partners和Sente Ventures;ONE的A輪投資者包括Breakthrough Energy Ventures、Assembly Ventures、BMW i Ventures和Volta Energy Technologies。該公司表示，加入本輪融資的還有兩家未透露姓名的戰略投資者，“一家是電動汽車技術解決方案製造商，另一家是可再生能源提供商。”富蘭克林鄧普頓的加入值得注意，因為它代表著從單純的風險投資到包括成長型股票的轉變。 With the investment, the firm gains a seat on the board and could become a source of debt for ONE’s equipment purchases. “We’re actually seeing that as the beginning of a long-term relationship that will go past Series B into Series C and potentially as we go public,” Ijaz said. ONE’s move into at-scale manufacturing comes as the U.S. battery industry is newly emboldened by the Inflation Reduction Act, which offers substantial incentives for companies to develop domestic supply chains and production. As a result, U.S. battery startups have begun to embrace their role not just as R&D shops that license their technology but as manufacturers competing with largely Asia-based giants like LG Energy Solution, CATL and SK Innovation. While ONE has gained significant government backing, including $220 million in grants from the state of Michigan, the decision to build an LFP gigafactory isn’t without risk. While LFP was invented in the U.S., most of the production today takes place in China. That’s in part because pioneering battery company A123 Systems bet big on the chemistry only to see the market for its cells evaporate. That sent the company into bankruptcy, where it was purchased for a song by a major Chinese auto parts company. Chinese companies also swept in and bought the rights to many LFP-related patents , several of which only expired last year. After the successful launch of the Tesla Model S, LFP cells were unable to deliver the range consumers expected and fell out of favor in the U.S. and Europe. Over the last decade, Chinese companies have developed vast factories that can crank out cells at low prices. In some ways, ONE’s gigafactory endeavor echoes that of A123, and that story didn’t end well. I asked Ijaz, who was an executive at the company during its rise and following its sale in bankruptcy, whether he thought this time would go any differently. “I’ve thought a lot about this as I went through that experience very closely,” he said. “I think there are four differences.”