Microsoft plans to invest in start-up revolutionizing electric vehicle charging
By MYBRANDBOOK
The $1 billion climate innovation fund of Microsoft Corp is eyeing a battery startup that is trying to dramatically improve power and charging time of electric vehicles.
Group14 Technologies, which is valued at more than $3 billion, is getting $214 million from investors. Other investors include Oman’s sovereign-wealth fund and a climate fund backed by private-equity firm Lightrock.
Microsoft however declined to disclose the size of its investment.
Group14 recently received a $100 million grant from the U.S. Energy Department through last year’s infrastructure bill. It raised a $400 million earlier this year from investors including Porsche AG, POAHY, Riverstone Holdings and a joint venture between BlackRock Inc. and Singapore state-owned investor Temasek Holdings Ltd. The latest funding round values Group14 above $3 billion.
The Woodinville, Wash.,-based company says its existing commercial factory in Washington puts it ahead of other start-ups trying to scale similar technology, such as Sila Nanotechnologies Inc., Enovix Corp. and Amprius Technologies Inc. It further says that its silicon anode material is more efficient than existing graphite technology, potentially fueling more powerful batteries for auto makers such as Porsche.
Industry executives say silicon batteries should help enable ultrafast charging, another key step toward increasing adoption of electric cars.
The 2015 founded company plans to use the new funding to accelerate development of a larger manufacturing facility in central Washington that will produce material for batteries capable of powering at least 100,000 electric cars.
“The industry recognizes that this is happening and they can either participate or watch it happen without them,” Group14 Chief Executive Rick Luebbe said.
China and other countries dominate the production of battery materials, and companies like Group14 and others attempt to play catch-up to feed manufacturing facilities.
Brandon Middaugh, director of Microsoft’s climate fund, said the company considered roughly 30 to 40 investments in the sector before putting money into Group14.
Microsoft to build a new data centre to support Thailand's tec
Microsoft has revealed intentions to construct a regional data centre as w...
SAP launches cloud services to help Indian scaleups innovate m
SAP at SAP unveils now "GROW with SAP for Scaleups," a new cloud service d...
Denodo and Sonata form alliance to unlock data-to-value creati
Denodo and Sonata Information Technology India Limited (SITL) have annou...
Google Play Store will now let users download two apps simulta
Google Play Store now lets users download two apps simultaneously. While a...
RELIANCE JIO INFOCOMM LTD.
STERLITE TECHNOLOGIES LTD.
NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES INDIA LTD.
FRESHWORKS TECHNOLOGIES PVT. LTD.
Technology Icons Of India 2023: Nandan Nilekani
Nandan Nilekani is the Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board, Infosys T...
Technology Icons Of India 2023: Dr. P D Vaghela
Dr PD Vaghela serves as the Chairperson of Telecommunications Regulato...
Technology Icons Of India 2023: Anil Kumar Aggarwal
Anil Agarwal is an Indian billionaire businessman who is the founder a...
PGCIL transforming India with its wide power transmission network
Engaged in power transmission, POWERGRID or PGCIL is a stated owned In...
STPI encouraging software exports from India
Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) is an S&T organization under...
CERT-IN protecting the cyber security space of India
CERT-In serves in the area of cyber security threats like hacking and ...
B D SOFTWARE
BD Software is the distributor of IT security solutions in India. The ...
NETPOLEON SOLUTIONS
Netpoleon Group is a Value-Added Distributor (VAD) of Network Security...
RAH INFOTECH
RAH Infotech is India’s fastest growing technology value added dist...