Sila Nano recharges with $170m

Automotive manufacturer Daimler led a $170m series E round for US-based advanced battery materials developer Sila Nanotechnologies, co-founded by a Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) researcher, today
The round included industrial technology and appliance producer Siemens’ Next47 unit as well as 8VC, Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP), Chengwei Capital, Matrix Partners and Sutter Hill Venture. It boosted the company’s overall funding to $295m.
Sila Nano is developing materials for use in lithium-ion batteries that are intended to be lighter and safer than existing batteries that use graphite, while also providing higher energy density.
The company was co-founded by Gleb Yushin, professor of materials science at Georgia Tech, who now serves as chief technology officer. Yushin co-founded Sila with Gene Berdichevsky and Alex Jacobs, two former engineers at electric carmaker Tesla.
Alex Nediger, director of cooperation and innovation management for Daimler, will join Sila Nano’s board of directors in connection with its investment, alongside Jeff Immelt, former chief executive of industrial conglomerate General Electric, who will be an independent director.
The series E funding will support an increase in manufacturing volume as the company prepares to commercialise its technology, beginning with partnerships with Daimler and fellow Germany-based carmaker BMW.
Berdichevsky, chief executive of Sila Nano, said: “We have cracked the code on silicon thanks to eight years and 35,000 iterations developing our materials to improve battery storage capacity.
“Now we are ready to bring this to market, and partners like Daimler and Jeff Immelt bring critical expertise and support as we enter this next phase and begin putting Sila inside the vehicles and devices people use every day.”
Sila Nano has not revealed details of its early funding, but it secured $70m in an August 2018 series D round led by Sutter Hill that also featured Next47 and lithium-ion battery producer Amperex.
Consumer electronics manufacturer Samsung, BVP, Chengwei Capital, Matrix Partners and In-Q-Tel were identified at the time as existing investors in Sila Nano, but the company did not disclose whether they were also participants in the series D round.
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.