Ionblox increases Series B to $32m with investment from Lilium, Applied Ventures, Temasek and Catalus Capital

Ionblox, a next-generation lithium-ion battery company announced a second close of its Series B round at an increased $32 million. Strategic partners include original investors Lilium and Applied Ventures who were joined by Temasek and Catalus Capital. The company will use the increased Series B funding to scale its technology, develop advanced high-power cells for electric aviation, and prototype fast-charge cells for Electric Vehicles.

The company's batteries are developed with high-performance lithium-ion cells that have pre-lithiated silicon dominant anodes. The batteries can address the most demanding use cases such as electric Vertical Take-off and Landing Aircrafts or eVTOL. Ionblox's pre-lithiated Silicon anode technology enables a groundbreaking combination of up to 50% higher energy density, 5X more power, and an extreme fast charge of 10 minutes compared with conventional lithium-ion cells. Ionblox is currently producing its large format pouch cells of up to 50Ah on its pilot production lines.

“Here at Ionblox, we are commercialising next-generation lithium-ion batteries with pre-lithiated silicon dominant anodes in order to transform the future of electric mobility,” said Sujeet Kumar, chief executive officer at Ionblox. “The funding from this round will enable us to take an important step in our journey to scale our technology and set up our own cell manufacturing in the U.S. and other key markets.”

“The Ionblox technology enables one of the highest performance cells for eVTOL aircraft existing today and we're proud to partner with Ionblox for our conforming aircraft. Test results to date are showing the technology will deliver not only superior energy and power density for the Lilium Jet at launch but also very good aging performance. We're excited to continue our work together to support the continuous improvement and the ongoing industrialisation of the technology,” said Yves Yemsi, chief operating officer of Lilium.

To commercialise its next-generation technology, Ionblox has received a development contract from USABC to develop low-cost, fast-charge electric vehicle batteries where its cell performance has been verified by Idaho National Lab and is also partnering with leading semiconductor equipment manufacturer Applied Materials.