Soelect, a Triad-based battery component development startup, has raised $11 million in Series A financing from three major investors.
Through a fund sponsored by Lotte Chemical, Lotte Ventures was the lead investor. It partnered with General Motors Ventures, a venture capital fund of General Motors, and KTB Network, a Korean venture capital firm.
Founded in 2018, Soelect has a Greensboro address but is technically based in High Point's Piedmont Centre business park. It develops solid-state battery components to be used for electric vehicles, portable electronics, power tools, drones, aircraft and other energy storage uses.
Through its proprietary lithium-based metal foil, Soelect uses an advanced lithium anode technology – LiX or Lithium/XCu – that exceeds the power of the typical lithium-ion batteries. It also uses a polymer-based solid-state electrolyte instead of the usual liquid electrolytes used in lithium-ion batteries. In doing so, Soelect can help make batteries more efficient and less expensive.
Soelect’s battery technology is able to reach 100% charge in 15 minutes and shows 80% capacity retention over 400 use cycles. The two components that Soelect has developed can be used individually or together in order to better the life of a battery.
With this new investment, Soelect will be able to continue working toward its goal of commercializing its technology and implementing it across several industries.
The company employs 14. Founder and CEO Sung-Jin Cho said he expects to hire 20 more soon.
“We’re thrilled to have the benefit of learning from the vast capabilities of our investment partners,” Cho said. “Lotte Chemical’s expertise in chemical/material manufacturing, GM’s sophistication in electric vehicle and battery development, and KTB’s experience in venture capital will combine to help propel development and commercialization of our technology and also help us attract top talent.”
Previously, the company raised $2.27 million in a seed round, Cho said. Investors from Soelect’s earlier round included First Launch Capital Fund, an early-stage capital fund from Launch Greensboro, and VentureSouth, an early-stage venture capital firm based in South Carolina.
GM Ventures invests in startups and companies in the automotive industry and whose products and technologies could potentially be implemented in General Motors’ vehicles and manufacturing.
“General Motors is committed to investing in and implementing technologies that support the company’s broader vision of a world with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion, and our collaboration with Soelect to advance lithium metal technology supports this effort,” said Wade Sheffer, the managing director of GM Ventures.
Lotte Chemical is a leading global manufacturer and seller of chemical products. Based in South Korea, the company focuses on polymers, monomers and basic petrochemicals.
“Lotte Chemical already has the strength of its advanced materials for lithium-ion batteries. Based on these capabilities, we are expanding our investment in the field to lead next-generation batteries such as vanadium-ion batteries and all solid-state batteries,” Park In-Ku, vice president of Lotte Chemical, said. “We expect to accelerate the commercialization of Soelect’s innovative lithium metal anode and solid electrolyte technologies through the collaboration with Lotte Chemical.”
Cho previously worked as an assistant professor at the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering and at North Carolina Agriculture and Technical State University. His research included solid-state batteries. Before that he worked for Johnson Controls.
Ryan Pratt, founder and CEO of Guerrilla RF, serves as a corporate advisor to Soelect. Matt Bailey, the director of VentureSouth, leads the company’s board of directors.
