BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AM Batteries (AMB), a pioneer in lithium-ion dry-electrode technology, announced today the close of its Series A financing. Anzu Partners, an investment firm that focuses on breakthrough industrial technologies, led AMB's oversubscribed $25M Series A funding, with participation from TDK Ventures, Foothill Ventures, Toyota Ventures, Zeon Ventures, SAIC Capital, VinFast, Doral Energy-Tech Ventures, and Creative Ventures. The financing will allow AMB to expand its team and accelerate its commercialization efforts, advance its roll-to-roll manufacturing pilot line to a production-grade line for customers, and extend its dry-electrode manufacturing platform to new battery chemistries and technologies like solid-state batteries.
One of the fundamental issues with today’s lithium-ion battery manufacturing process is the heavy carbon footprint, energy consumption, and cost from the solvent evaporation and recovery process needed for electrode fabrication. As electric vehicles continue to outperform predictions of global market penetration, the manufacturing costs and environmental footprint of EVs need to be addressed for sustainable mass adoption. AMB’s dry-electrode manufacturing technology allows for the coating of lithium-ion battery electrodes without the need for any harmful solvents or energy-intensive evaporation.
To manufacture battery electrodes, AMB uses an electrostatic spray deposition technique by which the cathode and anode active materials are electrostatically charged and deposited onto metal foil current collectors, which are then processed to their final state. When implemented at scale, AMB’s technology can enable an order of magnitude reduction in both factory footprint and energy consumption for electrode manufacturing. With the additional customizability afforded by the dry process, AMB’s electrodes also offer a path to other benefits, such as faster-charging, higher energy density, and even safer batteries.
“We are grateful for the confidence our investors have shown in us during this latest round of funding,” said Yan Wang, AMB Co-founder and CEO. “The demand for lithium-ion batteries has never been higher. One of the fundamental problems for battery manufacturers today in consumer electronics, large-scale energy storage, and EV markets is refining manufacturing techniques to remove the toxic solvents used in ‘wet-coating’ of electrodes. The progress we have made at AMB is a major step forward in solving this problem.”
“EV OEMs, such as Tesla, Volkswagen, and others, have already stated the need for improvements in battery manufacturing to address cost, scale, and environmental impact issues,” said Jimmy Kan, Ph.D., Partner at Anzu Partners. “We believe the commercialization of AMB’s electrostatic spray technology will directly address these industry pain points, while providing a platform for future battery performance and safety innovation.”
“In the wake of the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act’s support of localizing battery production with a $35/kWh credit for U.S.-based battery manufacturing, and the state of California’s plan to ban all gasoline vehicles by 2035, advancements in the production of lithium-ion batteries, such as what AMB is achieving, are not only critical, but a huge, green step forward,” said Anil Achyuta, Investment Director at TDK Ventures, who serves on the Board of AMB.
“The demand for electrification and the EV boom is fueling massive growth in the battery manufacturing equipment market and we have witnessed a steady flow of investments into advanced battery chemistries to drive key performance metrics of the batteries themselves,” said Lisa Coca, Climate Fund partner at Toyota Ventures. “However, AM Batteries’ solvent-free, dry-electrode manufacturing addresses another critical efficiency metric, the emissions footprint of the manufacturing process. The team’s expert ability to tackle this industry challenge - to sustainably produce while keeping pace with anticipated growth and demand - is why we are so excited to join their mission in transforming the manufacturing processes of lithium-ion batteries for EVs, grid storage, consumer electronics, and beyond.”
Within one year of operation since its seed financing, AMB has demonstrated a technology pilot line with roll-to-roll coating capabilities and industry-matching electrode performance. With this latest financing, AMB plans to scale up its production capabilities and further its collaborations with several battery materials, cell manufacturing, and EV partners.
To learn more about AM Batteries, visit https://am-batteries.com.
About AM Batteries
AM Batteries was founded in 2016, headquartered in Acton, MA focused on dry-electrode manufacturing for lithium-ion batteries. Compared to conventional slurry casting approach, AMB’s technology completely eliminates solvent recovery and electrode drying, which reduces energy consumption of a battery plant by 50%, saves 40% of capital equipment in electrode manufacturing and potentially produces higher energy, faster charging and lower cost lithium-ion batteries. AMB technology can be used for other types of battery electrode fabrication. AMB is working on scaling the technology for the lithium-ion battery industry. For more information, visit https://am-batteries.com.
About Anzu Partners
Anzu Partners is an investment firm that focuses on industrial and life science technology companies with the potential to transform their industries. Anzu works with entrepreneurs to develop and commercialize technological innovations by providing capital alongside deep expertise in business development, market positioning, intellectual property, global connectivity, and operations. For more information, visit https://anzupartners.com/.
About TDK Ventures
TDK Ventures Inc. invests in startups to bolster innovation in materials science, energy/power and related areas typically underrepresented in venture capital portfolios. Established in 2019 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of TDK Corporation, the corporate venture company’s vision is to propel the digital and energy transformations of segments such as health and wellness, next-generation transportation, robotics and industrial, mixed reality and the wider IoT/IIoT markets. TDK Ventures will co-invest and support promising portfolio companies by providing technical expertise and access to global markets where TDK operates. Interested startups or investment partners may contact TDK Ventures: www.tdk-ventures.com or contact@tdk-ventures.com.
