Ascend Elements Raises $542M for EV Battery Materials Facility
Decarbonization Partners, a partnership between BlackRock and Temasek, and Qatar Investment Authority co-led a $542 million equity investment, including a $460 million Series D funding round and $82 million of additional investments from earlier this year, in Ascend Elements, a manufacturer of electric vehicle battery materials.
The company claims the financing is one of the largest cleantech equity private placements in the US this year to date, and one of the top 10 equity private placements in the US this year.
The funding will advance construction of Ascend Elements’ Apex 1 facility in Hopkinsville, KY, which will be North America’s first sustainable cathode precursor (pCAM) and cathode active material (CAM) manufacturing facility.
The company began construction of Apex 1 on a 140-acre site in Southwest Kentucky last October. When complete, the one-million-square-foot facility will produce enough sustainable batteries for 750,000 electric vehicles per year.
“We look forward to building upon our strong momentum with support from our new and existing partners to develop the sustainable, domestic EV supply chain needed for the global energy transition,” said CEO Mike O’Kronley.
Ascend also was awarded two DOE grants totaling $480 million, part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in October 2022.
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC acted as sole placement agent on the Series D transaction.