GDI, a manufacturer of next-gen Li-ion batteries, completed a Series A funding round with EIT InnoEnergy and Helios Climate Ventures.
GDI plans to use the fresh capital to scale production to over 100MWh by Q1 2024. GDI has already started its pilot production in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and intends to reach 300kWh by the end of 2022.
Based in New York, GDI develops and manufactures next-generation 100 percent silicon battery anodes in a scalable and cost-effective process for superior battery performance over standard lithium-ion batteries. Silicon, in general, can store vast amounts of Li-ions at rapid speeds, enabling sub-15-minute charging speeds and EVs with over 500 miles of range.
“The future of Li-ion anodes is silicon. GDI is achieving three critical objectives; full substitution of silicon for graphite/carbon in Li-ion batteries, using a massively scalable domestic manufacturing method, and achieving industrial relevant cost to performance targets,” said Robert Anstey, Founder, and CEO of GDI.
GDI has over 10 U.S patents and over 25 pending patents globally, in various stages. GDI is making anodes on industrial solar and glass manufacturing equipment that is in use worldwide at volumes of millions of square meters per year.
“GDI’s ability to seamlessly integrate into existing lithium battery architecture and production lines offer significant cost and time-to-market advantages. But, equally important, the use of a silicon anode reduces the dependency of traditional imported materials like graphite, making the European battery value chain more resilient as well as increasing domestic content,” says Roel van Diepen, Investment Director at EIT InnoEnergy.
Earlier this month, Elestor, a Dutch-based large-scale energy storage company, secured €30 million (~$30 million) in a funding round, which was led by the corporate venture capital arm of the Norwegian energy company Equinor.
According to Mercom’s 1H and Q2 2022 Funding and M&A Report for Storage, Grid & Efficiency, In Q2 2022, VC funding for Energy Storage, Smart Grid, and Efficiency companies increased to $2.4 billion in 34 deals compared to $1.6 billion in 37 deals in Q1 2022.
