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Here’s the 28-page pitch deck that landed battery startup OneD a $25 million Series C to help power GM’s $35 billion pivot to electric cars
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- OneD is a battery startup racing to improve EVs’ battery range, cost, and charging speed.
- It’s approaching the industry with a multipronged business model.
- Check out the 28-page pitch deck it used to raise a $25 million Series C round.
A burgeoning battery outfit says its tech can improve the three most important variables for automakers and car buyers when it comes to electric vehicles: range, cost, and charging speed.
More and more, automakers are experimenting with battery formulas to find the best mix for making their EVs both compelling and price-competitive.
Founded in 2013, OneD Battery Sciences is laser-focused on that. The battery startup is tapping into the benefits of adding silicon into the anodes of EV batteries. It uses “silicon nanowires” to enhance the graphite used in traditional lithium-ion batteries.
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OneD raised $25 million last month from General Motors’ venture-capital arm, GM Ventures, and Volta Energy Technologies, which has invested in other up-and-coming battery firms, like Our Next Energy, Solid Power, and Liminal. The latest round brings the Palo Alto, California, startup’s total funding to $53 million.
“Implementing silicon in anodes has the potential to greatly increase the energy density of lithium-ion batteries — obviously, a favored trait for longer driving range in EVs,” Caspar Rawles, the chief data officer at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, said. But the nature of silicon is to expand when a battery is charging and discharging. That diminishes its life span, a challenge in a product meant to spend 10 years or more on the road.
That’s requiring innovative manufacturing techniques that allow the silicon to “breathe” without damaging the anode, Rawles said.
Unlike its rival startups Group14, Sila Nanotechnologies, and NanoGraf, OneD doesn’t plan to get rid of graphite altogether. It says its Sinanode platform leverages existing graphite supply chains, while benefiting from boosting its capabilities.
“Replacing the commercial graphite altogether is not going to happen,” CEO Vincent Pluvinage told Insider. It’s much more attractive to tell automakers and EV-cell makers about enhancing the supplier’s product, he said.
This could make for smaller and lighter battery packs with improved range and performance — advantages for automakers as they race to one-up their rivals’ EV offerings. The cost benefits, too, are huge, given the average transaction price for an EV hovers around $65,000, according to Kelley Blue Book, largely because of the luxury models dominating the market right now.
GM is especially interested in the technology, and in addition to the investment from its VC arm, it’s exploring using OneD’s silicon nanotechnology in its Ultium battery cells through a joint development agreement.
OneD also plans to license this tech to automakers and their battery manufacturers and has a small-scale pilot line going. It’s targeting next year for the production of its tech, which is set to be found in vehicles on the road in 2025.
Pluvinage shared the pitch deck OneD used to pitch its vision. Sensitive information has been redacted.
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