Group14 Technologies, a three-year-old startup in Seattle, is raising funds to develop materials that can improve electric vehicle batteries. A new document from the US Securities and Exchange Commission shows that Group14 Technologies has raised $ 14.3 million. Although the company confirmed the financing amount, it declined to disclose more details about the financing.
The startup is focused on producing nanomaterials that improve battery performance. Specifically, Group14 is producing silicon carbon anode materials, which can store lithium in rechargeable batteries, which can improve the charging capacity of mobile phones and automotive batteries. Compared with the current standard graphite anode in the industry, it can improve the charging capacity 40%.
Panasonic, Samsung SDI and LG Chemical are all leaders in the battery industry, and in recent years, new players such as Tesla and BYD have increased battery capacity at an alarming rate.
Group 14 is a spin-off of EnerG2 and is headquartered in Woodinville, Washington. EnerG2 is a manufacturing company that produces custom carbon materials for energy storage systems. The CEO and co-founder of Group14 is Rick Luebbe. He is also the co-founder of EnerG2. He also served as the CEO. Until 2016, EnerG2 was acquired by the German chemical company BASF. In addition, Rick Luebbe co-founded Hubspan, a cloud computing startup that was acquired by Liaison Technologies in 2012. The Group's CTO and co-founder is Rick Constantino, who previously held the position of vice president of research and development at EnerG2, and previously worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 15 years.
Currently, Group14's board members include Luebbe, Bill Funcannon, Managing Director of OVP Venture Partners, Gerry Langeler, an investor in OVP Venture Partners, Bob Lutz, a former GM and Ford executive, and the Washington Research Foundation. John Reagh, Managing Director of the group WRF Capital.
Group14 was established with the help of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), which has allocated $ 2.8 million to help it develop manufacturing processes.