Hitachi Chemical and Inabata have formed strategic partnerships with Silatronix as well as investing as part of a round that took the company's total funding to almost $14m.
Chemicals producer Hitachi Chemical and Inabata, a trading subsidiary of conglomerate Sumitomo, have participated in an $8m equity funding round for US-based lithium-ion battery technology developer Silatronix.
The round also included undisclosed existing backers, though Silatronix’s website lists its investors as venture capital firm Venture Investors and Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the technology commercialisation arm of University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Silatronix is working on materials based on organosilicon compounds that will be used in electrolytes, binders and coatings for lithium-ion batteries.
In addition to its equity investment, Inabata will distribute Silatronix’s products to lithium-ion battery customers in Asia, while Hitachi Chemical will help the company to evaluate the potential capabilities of the company’s technology, in particular anode materials, with its own products.
The round, for which BDA Partners was financial advisor to Silatronix, follows approximately $5.7m in equity funding across two rounds in 2013 and 2014, according to regulatory filings.
– This article first appeared on our sister site Global Corporate Venturing.
