Forge Nano announced a $10M investment from GM Ventures, adding to its recent $50 million Series C, which included participation from Hanwha, Orion Infrastructure Capital, Catalus Capital, and Ascent Funds.
The company reports that it has raised more than $100 million to date, with additional investments from Volkswagen, Mitsui Kinzoku, LG Technology Ventures, Sumitomo Corporation of Americas, Air Liquide, and SBI Investment.
The companies plan on potentially using Forge Nano’s high-throughput Atomic Armor equipment to coat cathode active materials for GM’s EV battery cells to increase performance and lifetime. Through this partnership, Forge Nano says it will continue to build upon its expertise in engineering next-generation battery materials to advance their performance capabilities alongside GM. Forge Nano intends to develop thin-film coatings to enhance GM’s cathode active materials and build prototype lithium-ion battery cells at its Colorado headquarters to showcase the enhancement capabilities of Atomic Armor.
Forge Nano says it has demonstrated its ability to enhance battery-grade materials, including graphite, silicon, and various formulations of nickel-rich cathodes, to unlock peak-performance battery cell products for its customers.
Forge Nano’s battery material capabilities will soon be showcased through Forge Battery, their battery manufacturing business, which was recently selected for a $100M award negotiation with the U.S. Department of Energy to expand its production capacity.
Forge Battery has begun producing and shipping 300 Wh/kg Atomic Armor-powered lithium-ion prototype cells using Forge Nano’s Atomic Armor surface engineering platform technology. The newly formed company intends to produce high-energy and high-power lithium-ion battery cells for defense, aerospace, and specialty electric vehicle markets at a newly constructed Gigafactory in Raleigh, North Carolina. Forge Battery plans to utilize a U.S.-focused battery material supply chain to further bolster the domestic battery ecosystem and reduce reliance on foreign suppliers.
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