Bloomberg reported that Glencore Plc has made a 40 million-pound ($54.2 Million) investment in Britishvolt Ltd. for the development of Britain’s first large-scale electric vehicle battery plant.
Britishvolt announced Tuesday that the battery plant developer has initiated a series C fundraising of 200 million pounds led by Bank of America Securities.
Glencore, metals giant and commodities trader best known for its mining operations, participated in past funding rounds. However, the total share of Glencore was not disclosed. The companies announced last month a joint venture that would build a battery recycling plant with a capacity of 10,000 tons per year.
Britishvolt began work on the battery plant, which weighs in at 2.6 billion pounds. Last month, the U.K government supported the project with 100 million pounds from its Automotive Transformation Fund. Glencore provided primary cobalt to the company last year.
“Our interactions with the capital markets, and customers, show that demand for low-carbon, responsibly-manufactured batteries is rapidly growing day by day,” Britishvolt Chief Investment Officer Kasra Pezeshki said.
The UK government will invest £100m in Britishvolt as the car battery manufacturing startup seeks to build Britain’s first large-scale “gigafactory” in the northeast of England.
