China’s solid-state lithium battery developer Welion has notched 1.5 billion yuan ($206.1 million) in a Series D round led by Mixed Ownership Reform Fund, a national fund that sets out to support mixed-ownership reforms of state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
The net proceeds will help the Beijing-headquartered company speed up its production line expansion, as well as increase its investment towards R&D, according to the announcement.
A slew of investors have participated in the round, including CSC Financial, SDIC Chuangyi Industry Fund Management, China Merchants Capital, Hermitage Capital, DYEE Capital, Hidden Hill Capital, Yunhe Partners, and Huzhou Jingkai Investment Development Group. Previous backer photovoltaic equipment maker Zibo Jingneng also re-upped in this round.
Founded in 2016, the firm specialises in production and R&D of lithium batteries with both solid-liquid hybrid and all-solid form, with manufacturing bases across Fangshan, Beijing, Liyang, Jiangsu, Huzhou, and Zejiang.
Solid-state lithium batteries demonstrate “superior performances” regarding energy density and safety, which have attracted industry players including lithium companies, battery manufacturers, and OEMs to invest in R&D over the years. However, there remain critical challenges for the industry to overcome, according to a report a report published by Deloitte Consulting China in April this year.
“Although there is a general consensus in the industry on the trend of developing towards solid-state batteries, the critical technical problems, such as high interface resistance, of all-solid-state batteries are difficult to overcome, and there is still a long way to go for large-scale installation,” the report noted.
“As the liquid content continues to decrease and the energy density is significantly improved, solid-liquid hybrid batteries with extremely low liquid electrolyte content may be a more commercially practical solution,” it added.
Some of the notable players in the field include Taiwan’s ProLogium Technology Co, which raised $326 million in its latest funding round from Primavera Capital Group, SoftBank China Venture Capital and others, last October; as well as Ganfeng Lithium, one of the world’s biggest lithium chemicals makers for electric-vehicle batteries.