Ambri Inc on Tuesday announced that it has secured a financing round of $144 million from Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, Paulson & Co. Inc and Ambri's largest shareholder Bill Gates, the company said in a statement.
The round also saw participations from Fortistar, Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates, Japan Energy Fund and others.
The proceeds from the fundraise will help the company commercialise and grow its daily cycling, long-duration system technology and to build a domestic manufacturing facility.
Ambri claims that its long-duration systems, which are based on its patented technology, are designed to break through the cost, longevity and safety barriers associated with lithium-ion batteries—enabling a critically necessary energy storage solution as increasing amounts of renewable energy are integrated into the grid.
"This financing supports the commercial growth of our company and technology," Dan Leff, Ambri executive chairman, said.
"Further, these funds are instrumental to driving our efforts to scale the company's operations and establish our manufacturing infrastructure to meet rapidly expanding customer demand,” he said.
The proceeds will also be used to construct high-volume manufacturing facilities in the US and internationally that will supply its long-duration battery systems to meet the growing demand from the grid-scale energy storage market and large industrial energy customers, such as data centres.
As part of the transaction, Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd. has been selected as Ambri's strategic partner to develop and manufacture Ambri's batteries in India. Ambri has also entered into a long-term antimony supply agreement with Perpetua Resources, whose largest shareholder is Paulson & Co. Inc.
Antimony is a key mineral in Ambri's battery chemistry and this agreement would help secure a domestic source for its supply chain.
"Reliance Industries sees this strategic partnership with Ambri as an important step in its journey of achieving its decarbonization goals. Our investment in Ambri is part of our broader plan to develop the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex, which will be amongst the largest integrated renewable energy manufacturing facilities in the world and the epicenter of India's Green Economy movement," Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director, Reliance Industries Ltd, said.
"We've been looking for an opportunity to help finance important technologies for large scale utility grade battery storage systems," John Paulson said.
"Ambri's novel battery technology is ready to deliver a low-cost, durable and safe battery for longer duration applications that will enable a stable grid that incorporates an increasing amount of intermittent renewable generation.
Perpetua Resources, a natural resource company in Idaho, is also an ideal supply chain partner for Ambri, given that it has the largest domestic deposit of antimony, which is a key mineral in Ambri's battery chemistry,” he said.
Our firm has been focused on emerging technologies that provide sustainability solutions now, and Ambri's one-of-a-kind batteries fit the bill," Mark Comora, president, Fortistar, said.
"This novel, low-cost technology will help integrate more wind and solar power into grids around the globe, especially in areas that are more remote, have been more reliant on fossil fuels, or experience extreme temperatures.
This will help level the playing field when it comes to decarbonization efforts that are critical to tackling climate change, and we are proud to invest in a company that is delivering meaningful benefits with real financial value,” he said.
Ambri has developed and is commercialising a new, long-duration battery technology that will enable widespread use of renewable energy sources, reduce electricity costs, and enable power systems to operate more reliably and efficiently.
The liquid metal battery project began at MIT in the lab of Professor Donald Sadoway, and the company was formed in 2010 when the project achieved significant technical breakthroughs.