In early May, GruEnergy completed a Series A+ financing round and secured tens of millions of US dollars. The proceeds from the financing round will be used to expedite the company’s efforts to scale up the production of its Si-based anode materials and have its products adopted by customers. According to the reporting by other news media, this financing round was led by Rockets Capital and joined by 5Y Capital, Baidu Ventures, and eGarden.
It is worth noting that Rockets Capital was jointly established by XPeng, IDG Capital, Sequoia Capital, 5Y Capital, and eGarden. As a venture capital fund, Rockets Capital focuses on opportunities in the industry chains for smart EVs, clean energy solutions, and other cutting-edge technology fields.
GruEnergy was established in the US in January 2017. The startup develops and manufactures Si-based anode materials, including ones that are wholly made up of silicon. The startup also claimed that its manufacturing process technologies ensure the durability and integrity of a Si-based anode materials during the charging and discharging cycles. This, in turn, would allow for a faster charging time and an increase in energy density for Li-ion batteries.
GruEnergy also said its technologies can raise the state of charge of an EV power battery from 0% to 80% within just 8 minutes. Such an achievement will significantly reduce the range anxiety that affects the adoption of EVs.
According to its official website, its products have already entered the mass production phase. The EV power battery cells that use GruEnergy’s anode materials have an energy density of up to 400-600mAh/g and an initial cycle efficiency of up to 92%. Furthermore, GruEnergy’s products do have to go through prelithiation during their manufacturing, and this has further cut down their production costs.
GruEnergy currently has a presence in Asia, the US, and Europe. It is collaborating with OEMs and battery manufacturers in these regions. In the aspect of production, GruEnergy has a plant in Changzhou, China, though it has yet to reach the scale for mass production. Looking ahead, GruEnergy will expand the Changzhou plant while setting up additional production sites outside China in order to meet the demand from customers in the aforementioned three regions.
Rocket Capitals stated that GruEnergy Si-based and pure-Si anode materials have advantages in initial cycle efficiency, storage capacity, and charging time. These benefits can be leveraged in many applications. It is believed that GruEnergy will be able to quickly open up market segments and provide high-quality products to the major battery manufacturers and OEMs worldwide.
（Picture: Veer）
