The battery startup Our Next Energy raised $300M in Series B funding for a $1.2B post-money valuation to fund the first phase of its battery plant in Texas.
The funding was led by Franklin Templeton and Fifth Wall, a venture capital firm focused on real estate. The round was also joined by Riverstone Holdings, Coatue, BMW i Ventures, Volta Energy Technologies, as well as Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures. This funding round included a convertible note valued at $62.5M that closed last year.
Richard Piliero, a Managing Director at Franklin Templeton, will join ONE’s Board of Directors in conjunction with Franklin Templeton’s investment in Series B. The equity investment is combined with $220M in state grants from Michigan for a total of more than $500M to finance battery cell manufacturing.
The news comes a year after the company announced it had successfully tested a prototype of its new battery that gets a 750-mile driving range in the Tesla Model S before recharging.
Based in Novi, Michigan, ONE Circle is the company’s first battery cell manufacturing facility. The factory’s external construction was completed in December 2022 in Van Buren Township, Michigan. The funds will be used to accelerate expansion and expand operations at the company.
Founded in 2020 by Apple Inc. veteran Mujeeb Ijaz, Our Next Energy or ONE is an energy storage technology firm focusing on developing batteries that can speed up electrification.
The company is further planning for phase two plant investments ahead of schedule and has inked ten client agreements for its products, totaling 36 GWh over the next five years.
“Closing this fundraising round is an important milestone for ONE as we focus on launching our first LFP cell factory in 2024,” said Mujeeb Ijaz, CEO & Founder of ONE. “We are transitioning from a startup funded by venture capital to a manufacturer fueled by growth capital. That’s important in this environment where urgent demand for U.S. based cell manufacturing is on the rise, supported by the Inflation Reduction Act, in a true public-private partnership.”
“Batteries are a fundamental component of the global energy transition economy,” said Peter Gajdoš, Partner & Co-Head of The Climate Technology Investment Team at Fifth Wall. “ONE is firmly at the forefront of driving this systemic shift. We believe ONE’s next-generation mobility and stationary storage applications are a game changer and are set to transform the $100B+ battery market. We’re thrilled to be a part of the company’s category-defining growth.”
