(Bloomberg) —
Forge Nano Inc., a materials science startup spun out of the University of Colorado Boulder in 2013, is seeking to raise new funding at a valuation of as much as $900 million, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
The company, backed by GM Ventures, Volkswagen AG and LG Technology Ventures, is working with an adviser as it solicits funding from new and existing investors, said people familiar with the discussions, who asked not to be identified because the information is confidential. Forge Nano’s previous valuation was $336 million, according to PitchBook.
Terms of the round haven’t been finalized and could still change. A spokesman for Forge Nano declined to comment.
The company is focused on technology for batteries, a tumultuous field of late. The collapse of Europe’s would-be battery champion, Sweden’s Northvolt AB, put on a chill on investment. At the same time, President Donald Trump has vowed to repeal parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, which created incentives for electric vehicles and spurred investment in domestic battery development.
But the Trump administration’s desire to bring more manufacturing back to the US and decouple from China is helping to offset those headwinds. And there’s the need for more energy to power the artificial intelligence boom.
Read More: How the US Battery Industry Is Adapting to Trump
Forge Nano also is looking to expand beyond batteries to semiconductor manufacturing. Its main property is a nano-technology coating that can prevent corrosion, helping lithium-ion batteries last longer.
The technology, which it calls “atomic armor,” can also be used to reduce the amount of energy consumed by semiconductor chips. Forge Nano is in the process of building a factory in North Carolina to produce batteries for the defense and aerospace industries, as well as small-volume electric transport.
The company also counts Sumitomo Corp. of Americas and SBI Investment among its investors.
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