GM Leads $60M Investment in AI, EV Battery Materials Startup Mitra Chem

General Motors is leading a $60 million Series B financing round for Mitra Chem, a Mountain View, CA-based, AI-enabled battery materials startup, with the aim to make electric car batteries more affordable and accessible.

Mitra Chem claims to shorten the lab-to-production timeline by over 90%. It uses AI to “simulate, synthesize and test thousands of cathode designs monthly, ranging in size from grams to kilograms.”

Most EVs are currently powered by lithium-ion batteries, which require expensive and rare materials such as lithium cobalt oxide on the cathode and graphite on the anode.

Mitra Chem, led by CEO and co-founder Vivas Kumar, is developing new types of batteries based on lithium iron phosphate (LFP), which is not only cheaper and more abundant, but also avoids many of the issues connected with cobalt, such as obtaining and paying for it.

“This is a strategic investment that will further help reinforce GM’s efforts in EV batteries, accelerate our work on affordable battery chemistries like LMFP and support our efforts to build a U.S.-focused battery supply chain,” said Gil Golan, GM vice president, Technology Acceleration and Commercialization.

In addition to GM, existing investors Social Capital, Fontinalis Partners, Earthshot Ventures, The Keffi Group and Boutique Venture Partners participated in the round. New investors include GS Futures, Bricks Capital Management, Zeon Ventures, Scribble VC, WovenEarth Ventures, Bonds Investment Group, among others.