Sakuu Corporation, a provider of solid-state battery solutions, entered into a definitive business combination agreement with Plum Acquisition Corp. I, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), for a merger resulting in Sakuu becoming a publicly traded company.
The business combination values the combined company at an enterprise value of $705 million. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2023. Upon closing, it is expected to be listed on a U.S. national exchange under the ‘SAKU’ ticker. Sakuu’s current equity holders are expected to own approximately 80% of the pro forma company.
The proposed transaction is anticipated to produce approximately $100 million in gross proceeds. In connection with the transaction, the company intends to raise $100 million in private and public capital as a lead-up to and as part of the transaction’s closing, including from structured debt and equity solutions, secured debt, and Plum Acquisition Corp. I’s cash in trust.
“The arrival of transformative additive manufacturing will have profound implications across global legacy manufacturing. Our high-volume Kavian solution for printing batteries can potentially leap-frog decades of manufacturing stagnation. We believe Kavian is the only known solution for producing heavily in-demand products, such as solid-state batteries, that can be custom-printed rapidly and cost-effectively—taking next-generation battery manufacturing to realms never imagined. Since 2016, our talented team, with deep and diverse industry expertise, has worked diligently to develop Kavian, along with our next-generation battery products. We are not a concept company—we have successfully and consistently printed high-performance batteries since December 2022 and, with this progress, we have entered the first stages of commercialization. With this proposed merger, the strong support of the exceptional leadership team at Plum, and our dedicated investors, we feel Sakuu is well-positioned to create a paradigm shift in complex manufacturing, starting first with batteries”, said Sakuu Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Robert Bagheri.
According to Mercom’s Annual and Q4 2022 Funding and M&A Report, 2022 announced debt and public market financing for energy storage companies increased 151% with $20.6 billion in 28 deals compared to $8.2 billion raised in 2021.
