Beltsville’s Ion Storage Systems just raised $30 million in funding for its solid state battery operation, part of a growing U.S. industry to produce batteries for new technologies.
The Prince George’s company announced the initial close of its Series A round of funding on Wednesday; it expects the round to close completely by the end of the first quarter. Clear Creek Investments of Solana Beach, California, VoLo Earth Ventures of Snowmass Village, Colorado and San Francisco’s Alsop Louie Partners led the round. Todd Crescenzo, founder and managing partner at Clear Creek Investments and Joseph Goodman, co-founder and managing partner at VoLo Earth Ventures will join Ion’s board of directors.
While it’s an early-stage company, Ion Storage Systems has raised its fair share thus far — at least $50 million to date to finance the development and now production of its solid state lithium metal batteries, which it says are safer and lighter than their competitors' products. Ion pulled in $8 million in seed funding in 2019, a round led by Alsop Louie Partners. That same year, it got $12 million in grant funding from NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy, Lockheed Martin Corp. and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Ion already has a contract to make batteries for the Army and plans to make 1 million cellphone-sized batteries per year beginning in 2023, according to The Wall Street Journal. The $30 million investment will allow it to “commission and qualify a battery cell manufacturing line at its Beltsville, Md. headquarters capable of producing 10MWh/yr of its safe, energy dense and versatile solid state batteries,” according to a press release.
Ion says it'll first focus on producing batteries for its defense and aerospace customers, which it expects will generate revenue by the end of 2023. The new round of funding will also allow it to speed up development on contracts it has with electric vehicle manufacturers, defense contractors, and consumer electronics companies.
Founded by University of Maryland College Park professor Eric Wachsman, Ion spun off from the Maryland Energy Innovation Institute at the University of Maryland. In 2020 it moved its headquarters from College Park to a 20,000-square-foot facility in Beltsville.
“It is extremely gratifying to see this novel solid state battery technology created in my laboratories at the University of Maryland rapidly transition from academic research to a viable commercial product with such far reaching impact across multiple energy storage markets,” Wachsman, Ion’s founder and executive chair, said in a press release.
