Lilac Solutions, a lithium extraction technology provider, raised $145 million in Series C funding, bringing Lilac’s total capital raised to $315 million. The financing was led by Mercuria, Lowercarbon Capital, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, with participation from all major shareholders, including T. Rowe Price Association, Inc., Engine Ventures, Aventurine, Presidio Ventures (a Sumitomo Corporation Group Company), and BMW i Ventures amongst others, along with Mitsubishi Corporation and The Nature Conservancy as new investors.
The funding will be used to support Lilac’s growth plans as the company ramps up the manufacturing capacity of its propriety ion-exchange (IX) material and commercial deployment at projects around the world.
Lilac engages with lithium resource developers around the world to support project development and operations. The company has developed a lithium extraction technology based on IX, which is commonly used in metals separation and water treatment. Every IX technology is based on an ion exchange media (IXM) that is selective for certain metals.
The company is said to have constructed IXM based on ceramic materials. However, most ceramics that can recover lithium break down fast in harsh chemical conditions and need to be changed often. Lilac has claimed to improve cycle life to more than 3,000 cycles and counting using patented materials developed in-house.
“Lilac is unique in offering a DLE technology which eliminates both the evaporation ponds and high freshwater consumption that have historically plagued new lithium brine development.” said Dave Snydacker, CEO of Lilac Solutions. “Our ion exchange process can be deployed across a wide variety of brine chemistries with high recoveries and low costs. The technology has been extensively tested, scaled up, and is ready for commercial deployment at sites around the world.”
The EV industry requires massive lithium supply growth, with annual new volumes at the end of this decade approaching the equivalent of current total global lithium production.
According to Mercom’s recently released Annual and Q4 2023 Funding and M&A Report for Storage & Smart Grid, Venture capital (VC/PE) funding in Energy Storage in 2023 was the highest ever recorded, increasing 59% year-over-year (YoY), with $9.2 billion in 86 deals compared to the $5.8 billion raised in 96 deals in 2022.
