Draft:Group14 Technologies

Overview

Group14 Technologies is an American manufacturer and supplier of advanced silicon battery technology for rechargeable lithium-silicon batteries. Headquartered in Woodinville, Washington, Group14 operates one commercial factory in Woodinville, Washington, and is building a second commercial factory in Moses Lake, Washington. Group14 is partnering with SK, Inc. to build a joint venture factory in Sangju, South Korea, which is in the final stages of commissioning and is expected to be completed in 2024. Group14 acquired Schmid Silicon Group and plans to restart a silane facility in Spreetal, Germany, in 2025.

Group14 currently delivers its silicon battery technology, SCC55™, to a list of customers that include Porsche for electric vehicle batteries and Amperex Technology Limited (ATL) for smartphones.

Group14 announced that it expects to have 30 GWh of production capacity from 2024-2025, and will become the world's first mass producer of advanced silicon materials for EV programs.

History

Group14 was founded in 2015 by Rick Luebbe and Dr. Rick Costantino after it was spun out from the energy storage materials company EnerG2, which was acquired by German chemical company BASF in 2016.

In April 2021, Group14 launched its first commercial Battery Active Materials factory (BAM-1) in Woodinville, Washington. In April 2023, Group14 broke ground on its second commercial BAM factory (BAM-2) in Moses Lake, Washington; the construction was supported by a $100 million grant from the United States Department of Energy. In July 2021, Group14 announced a joint venture with SK to build a BAM factory in Sangju, South Korea, which is expected to have a nameplate manufacturing capacity of 2,000 tons of SCC55™, equivalent to 10 GWh of silicon battery capacity annually. In July 2023, Group14 acquired Schmid Silicon Group and announced plans to restart a silane factory in Spreetal, Germany in 2025.

In June 2024, Group14 announced it had signed five multi-year binding offtake agreements with three leading electric vehicle cell manufacturers and two leading consumer electronic cell manufacturers across Europe, Asia, and North America.

Technology

SCC55™ is a silicon-carbon composite anode material that promises up to 50% greater energy density and 0-80% extreme-fast charging in under 10 minutes. Today, Group14 delivers to more than 100 customers representing 95% of worldwide lithium-ion battery production.

In October 2021, Farasis Energy announced it had achieved increased energy density with SCC55™ that would enable them to reach 330 Wh/kg in automotive cells with more than 1,000 charge-discharge cycles.

In November 2021, Group14 announced a strategic partnership with StoreDot, revealing that SCC55™ combined with StoreDot’s extreme-fast charging (XFC) technology enabled an energy density of 300Wh/Kg with over 700 cycles capable of being charged 0%-80% in 10 minutes.

Group14 announced it earned ISO 9001 certification for its BAM-1 factory in Woodinville, Washington, in April 2023.

Applications

In May 2022, Porsche AG announced plans to produce lithium-silicon battery cells with Group14's technology in Germany in 2024 to help power their electric vehicles.

In February 2023, Group14 announced it began commercial delivery of SCC55™ to Amperex Technology Limited (ATL) for use in smartphones. In January 2024, Group14 announced that SCC55™ was in batteries for more than one million smartphones through its partnership with ATL.

In May 2024, Molicel announced it was utilizing SCC55™ to power its ultra-high-power P50B lithium-ion battery cells.

Finance

To date, Group14 has received more than $650 million in financing.

In November 2019, Group14 announced it raised $18 million from investors including BASF Venture Capital and OVP Venture Partners. In December 2020, South Korea’s SK materials led Group14’s $17M Series B round.

In May 2022, Group14 announced it raised $400 million in Series C funding led by Porsche AG with participation from OMERS Capital Markets, Decarbonization Partners, Riverstone Holdings LLC, Vsquared Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, and other large institutional investors. Group14 announced it would leverage the funding to accelerate the development of its second U.S. factory to supply a minimum of 600,000 EVs annually.

In December 2022, Group14 announced it raised $214 million in additional financing from a consortium of investors including Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, Lightrock Climate Impact Fund, Moore Strategic Ventures, Oman Investment Authority, and Molicel to complete its total $614 million Series C round.

In October 2022, Group14 announced it received $100 million as part of the Battery Materials Processing and Battery Manufacturing award from the US Department of Energy's Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC).