Ascend Elements announced that it has raised $542 Million in new equity investments, which it will use to build the United States’ first commercial-scale manufacturing facility for sustainable battery materials. The figure represents $460 million in Series D investments and $82 million of additional investments from earlier in the year, which combine to create one of the largest cleantech equity private placements in the United States this year.
The Series D round was led by Decarbonization Partners, Singapore-based Temasek, and Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), along with a number of other investors who pitched in to elevate Ascend into one of the most formidable players in the sustainable battery space. Ascend has developed a method to use the output of battery recycling facilities, called black mass. According to the company, studies have shown that their recycled battery materials perform as well as similar materials made from mined sources, while reducing carbon emissions by up to 93%.
The funding will advance construction of Ascend Elements’ Apex 1 facility in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, which will be North America’s first sustainable cathode precursor (pCAM) and cathode active material (CAM) manufacturing facility.
More on the funding round can be found on the Ascend Elements website.