Ascend Elements raises $162M in new equity investments

Ascend Elements, headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts, has raised $162 million in new equity investments that include funding from Just Climate, Clearvision Ventures and Irongrey. The new equity financing brings the company’s 12-month funding total to $704 million, including $542 million in funding led by Decarbonization Partners, Temasek and Qatar Investment Authority in September of last year.

The new funding will advance the construction of Ascend Elements’ Apex 1 facility in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, a cathode precursor (pCAM) manufacturing facility that is scheduled to open in early 2025. When complete, the 1-million-square-foot facility will produce pCAM and cathode active materials (CAM) for up to 750,000 electric vehicles per year, the company says. The project is supported in part by U.S. Department of Energy and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).

Ascend plans to invest approximately $1 billion in the 140-acre Apex 1 campus and manufacturing facility.

PCAM and CAM are engineered materials made to precise microstructure specifications for use in electric vehicle batteries, according to Ascend. While most of the world’s pCAM and CAM are made in China from mined metals, Ascend is commercializing a method to make pCAM and CAM from black mass, the traditional output of lithium-ion battery recycling facilities. The company says its patented Hydro-to-Cathode direct precursor synthesis process eliminates several intermediary steps in the traditional cathode manufacturing process and provides significant economic and carbon-reduction benefits.

“I’d like to thank our new and existing partners for investing in North America’s critical EV battery infrastructure,” Ascend Elements CEO Mike O’Kronley says. “This diverse group of leading climate investors and industry partners underscores the confidence that the market has placed in our business. By recycling lithium-ion batteries and making new, engineered battery materials with lower carbon emissions, Ascend Elements is accelerating the global transition to zero carbon emissions.”

Just Climate Managing Director Aruna Ramsamy says, “We are backing a technology that transforms spent lithium-ion batteries into critical materials used in the creation of new batteries. With its first pCAM facility in construction in the United States, Ascend Elements has the potential to unlock the supply of critical battery materials to accelerate the roll out of electric vehicles. Ascend Elements’ Hydro-to-Cathode technology provides a sustainable option for production of critical battery materials, championing circularity in an industry that is poised to scale significantly.”

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC acted as sole placement agent for the Series D funding round.