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Sila Nano Raises $375M, will use the funds for its Titan Silicon™ series production

July 07, 2024

Sila, a next-generation battery materials company, has announced the successful raising of $375 million in a Series G funding round. The round was led by existing investors Sutter Hill Ventures and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., with participation from new and existing investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Coatue, Perry Creek Capital, among others.

The funding will facilitate the completion of Sila’s Moses Lake plant in Q1, 2025, which will enable the delivery of its Titan Silicon anode material to auto customers in Q4, 2025. Contracts with Mercedes-Benz and Panasonic, as well as three additional undisclosed customers, have been secured and will be fulfilled through Sila’s Moses Lake manufacturing facility.

Sila has already demonstrated the technical differentiation and market adoption of Titan Silicon as a high silicon anode capable of replacing most or all of the graphite in a Li-ion cell. The funding round focuses on scaling up and ensuring that rigorous automotive quality and reliability standards and delivery timelines are met. The Moses Lake manufacturing plant is on schedule and will deliver enough capacity to serve multiple customers. Future expansions at the site will enable Sila to produce enough material to power up to a million cars per year.

Titan Silicon, the first commercial next-generation silicon anode technology, entered the market in 2021. It delivers up to a 20-25% energy density improvement over the industry’s best performing graphite cells, enabling automakers to deliver improved EV performance, increase vehicle range and reduce charge times. Future releases of Titan Silicon will drive improvement of up to 40%, recharge times to less than 10 minutes, and lower the $/kWh cost of batteries.

Ardea Partners LP served as the exclusive financial advisor to Sila for its Series G round. For more information, visit silanano.com.

Sila was founded in 2011 with the mission to power the world’s transition to clean energy. Sila shipped the world’s first commercially available silicon anode for lithium-ion batteries in 2021, and has since enabled battery performance enhancements in multiple consumer electronics devices. Sila’s Titan Silicon anode will next power electric vehicles, including an upcoming version of the Mercedes-Benz G-Class and will be used within Panasonic Energy’s next-generation lithium-ion batteries, which will also serve the automotive industry.

“Our investors share the perspective that the world will transition to fully electric,” said Gene Berdichevsky, Sila Co-founder and CEO. “Every automaker knows the future must be electric and realizes that the path to broader adoption isn’t through cost reduction alone. To transform the world and meet consumer expectations, the industry needs to take the next big step on battery performance and charging speeds. With Sila, automakers can deliver next-generation EVs that will win over those who expect more from their electric experience.”

“We have observed Sila’s steady execution since we first invested in the company in 2021,” said Joseph Fath, portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. “With its disciplined focus on manufacturing and quality, we believe Sila has the persistence and durability to meet future global demand and be a market leader for the long haul.”