Hithium has raised over 2 billion yuan ($277.9 million) in a Series B round of financing led by ABC International, the investment banking unit of the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), as the Chinese energy storage startup gears up to expand its production capacity.
Matrix Partners China, new energy-focused Fenghe Capital, Dayone Capital, Shanghai-listed metal mining business Chengtun Mining Group and a few others joined the round, the firm announced on Tuesday.
As Hithium’s biggest venture funding by far, the Series B proceeds will finance the startup’s new equipment procurement and investment in R&D, manufacturing, and market expansion. It offers a full range of energy storage solutions for utility, commercial & industrial, and residential usage.
In the long run, Hithium aims to cross the 100GWh-annual-production threshold by 2024, before it moves towards delivering 135GWh of energy storage batteries by 2025 with a planned total investment of $4.71 billion during the process.
As of today, its estimated yearly production capacity stands at 45GWh. It claims to have partnerships with over half of the world’s top 10 corporates and system integrators across the fields of wind power generation and photovoltaics (PV), citing compiled third-party market data.
The Xiamen-headquartered startup in September showcased its two new battery products, namely the 300Ah Prismatic Cell, which is tailored for electric energy storage, and the 46mm Large Cylindrical Cell designed to satisfy residential energy storage needs. The two products are expected to be ready for global delivery in the first quarter of 2023.
Hithium plans to double down on battery R&D and intelligent manufacturing as it expects energy storage to become an important element to help China realise its 2026 carbon-neutral pledge.
