On January 25, LG Energy Solution recently announced that it has injected capital into the U.S. start-up Sion Power to jointly develop a new generation of battery technology. The investment will be mainly used to develop batteries with lithium metal anodes, which are more energy efficient than conventional lithium-ion batteries.
LG Energy Solution said that the investment aims to leverage SION Power's innovative technology to further strengthen LG Energy Solution's competitiveness in the battery industry. The funding will be executed through LG Technology Ventures and Bricks Capital Management, both of which are companies in which LG New Energy invests.
At present, LG Energy Solution has not announced the specific investment amount and other details, but TrendForce has found more details on the official website of SION Power.
On January 24, Sion Power announced that the company raised $75 million (about 5. yuan.) in a Series A financing400 million yuan). The round was led by LG Energy Solution with participation from Jim Simons' Euclidean Capital and Eric Schmidt's Hillspire LLC.
Source: SION POWER official website.
New members of the Board include Stefan Jacoby (Stanford University Professor, entrepreneur and Managing Partner of Innovation Ende**Ors), Scott Brady, Robert McIntyre, Managing Director of LG Technology Ventures, and Hansol Kim, Managing Partner of Bricks Capital Management.
Sion Power is the developer of LicerionTM technology, which improves safety, longevity and charging rates by compressing lithium-metal batteries. Sion Power believes that any lithium metal system needs to be compressed to achieve a viable energy storage system. Based on this philosophy, SION POWER has successfully developed strong intellectual property rights.
The LicerionTM technology has been successfully demonstrated in large capacity batteries (up to 20AH) and is currently undergoing further development to reach a battery capacity of 56AH.
Tracy Kelley, CEO of Sion Power, said that every automaker now has an EV strategy in place and has invested billions of dollars in the market. With the ability to deliver up to twice the energy of traditional lithium-ion batteries, the LicerionTM directly addresses consumer anxiety when looking for a charger.
Jim Simons, Chairman of Euclidean Capital, said: "We are investing in Sion Power because its strong intellectual property portfolio is critical to commercialising lithium metal technology. Its technology is superior to traditional batteries, with a scalable manufacturing process that provides a faster, lower-cost solution. ”
With this new funding, Sion Power will be able to validate its technology in terms of technology and market. The company plans to build a fully automated production line to produce high-quality, large-scale lithium metal batteries for testing and market development by automotive OEMs and battery manufacturers.
In addition, on January 26, LG Energy Solution announced its full-year earnings for 2023, announcing that its annual comprehensive income and operating profit have achieved steady growth in 2023, and LG Energy Solution's comprehensive revenue reached 337 trillion won, operating profit of 22 trillion won, an increase of 31 percent year-on-year8% and 782%。
source：lg energy solution
LG New Energy's Chief Financial Officer, Chang Sin Lee, said that the company has achieved high annual revenue growth of more than 30% for two consecutive years by actively responding to strong demand in the North American market. At the same time, the company also managed to achieve a 78% year-over-year increase in annual operating profit through cost reduction and productivity improvements, as well as the recognition of IRA tax credits.
LG New Energy** The global electric vehicle market will grow by about 20% this year, and the North American market growth is expected to remain at a low to mid-to-medium level of 30% due to a variety of factors. While there is a lot of volatility and uncertainty in market demand expectations, LG Energy Solutions believes that the momentum for demand recovery is still there.
source：lg energy solution
LG Energy Solution also announced its key business initiatives: to further improve the quality of high-nickel (Hi-Ni) NCMA batteries in the high-end electric vehicle segment; In the field of mainstream electric vehicles, the technology development of high-voltage medium-nickel NCM and LFP batteries will be accelerated. In the field of mobility and IT batteries, the mass production of the 46 series will be successfully achieved in the second half of this year. In the ESS field, the company will expand its LFP battery business, which began production at the end of last year, as well as ESS system integration solutions.
*: TrendForce lithium battery finishing.