Group14 Technologies, a Seattle-area startup working to revolutionize energy storage with its lithium-silicon battery technology, announced Monday it closed on a $17 million Series B round. This investment, plus the $6.5 million in grants awarded by the Department of Energy back in September, brings its total funding raised to more than $41 million.
The company was born out of EnerG2, which develops and sells engineered carbons for batteries. After getting acquired by multinational chemicals company BASF in 2016, EnerG2 decided to spin out its battery technology into a new company. Thus, Group14 was born. And it is ushering in a new evolution in battery technology with its flagship product, the SCC55.
Here’s how it works: All batteries have two electrodes, a positive one and a negative one. Group14’s approach focuses on the negative electrode, increasing a battery’s energy density by about 50 percent. The goal is to replace traditional lithium-ion batteries — found in everything from cars to cell phones — with this lithium-silicon solution, which will eventually lead to the “electrification of everything,” as CEO and co-founder Rick Luebbe puts it.
A graduate of Stanford Business School and an Army veteran, Luebbe says he always knew he wanted to invest his time in a startup that could have real-world implications. While he was growing EnerG2’s technology, he became more exposed to the battery space, and quickly recognized the significant global implications improving it could have.
Now, he anticipates Group14’s technology will be instrumental in decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels in a variety of industries, from electric vehicles to aerospace.
“Lithium-silicon technology really will change the world,” Luebbe told Built In. “We are looking at technology that really will enable the rapid acceleration in the adoption of electric vehicles, the adoption of renewable energy for the grid, enhance the effectiveness of medical devices, enable the electrification of a broad range of transportation. Energy storage is the key that will unlock opportunities in all those spaces. This lithium-silicon technology is really revolutionary stuff, in our opinion, in that path to the ultimate energy storage.”
This revolution could come sooner than you might think. Luebbe anticipates big changes in these industries over the next five years thanks to Group14’s many strategic investors, who are longtime experts in the energy storage space. Previous investors include Amperex Technology Limited, the largest producer of lithium ion batteries for consumer electronics, and conductive additives giant Cabot Corporation.
“We have specifically chosen to focus on strategic investors because they truly understand what we’re doing. They validate the technology,” Luebbe said. “Unlike traditional venture capital investors who, frankly, struggle to understand this kind of technology, the strategic investors that we’re working with do this every day. This is where they can really apply their expertise and make efficient decisions. Then, with those investments, we get strategic partnerships. And those strategic partnerships help accelerate our commercialization.”
This latest funding round was led by SK Materials, one of the world’s top manufacturers of special and industrial gases, and will allow Group14 to increase the production of its SCC55 technology to meet a surge in demand. The product is set to make its commercial debut early next year.
“This is ready to drop right now,” Luebbe said. “This is not a tomorrow technology. This is a today technology. And we’re moving very fast.”
