Mitra Chem is raising $50M for its cheaper, domestic battery materials

Battery materials startup Mitra Chem has raised $15.6 million of a deliberate $50 million funding spherical, in keeping with a regulatory filing seen by TechCrunch.

Mitra Chem is growing supplies to make lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries retailer extra vitality. Automakers have begun to show to LFP in an try and trim prices from electrical car battery packs, which might make up a good portion of a automotive’s price.

At the moment, all LFP materials comes from outdoors the US, with the overwhelming majority coming from China.

TechCrunch reached out to Mitra Chem for remark, however didn’t obtain a direct reply.

The brand new funding spherical comes at a difficult time for battery startups. Gross sales of electrical autos (EVs) haven’t grown on the fee some automakers and analysts had predicted. 

Concurrently, the Trump administration and congressional Republicans have mounted an assault on EVs and battery producers. The Home model of the reconciliation invoice would sundown EV tax credit in 2025 or 2026, relying on what number of EVs automakers have offered. The Senate has but to weigh in on the invoice.

Mitra Chem beforehand raised a $60 million Series B that closed in 2023. GM led the spherical, with In-Q-Tel, Social Capital, and others taking part. Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social Capital led the startup’s $20 million Collection A in 2021. South Korean battery supplies firm L&F Company is a possible participant within the new spherical, having invested $10 million in March, Korean Financial Each day has reported.

The corporate was awarded a $100 million grant from the Division of Vitality final 12 months to construct a battery supplies plant in Michigan. In response to federal data, that award continues to be on the books however hasn’t but been paid out.