Mitra Chem raises USD 40m in GM-led funding round

US lithium-ion battery materials firm Mitra Future Technologies Inc, or Mitra Chem, announced the first close of its Series B financing round led by local automotive giant General Motors (NYSE:GM), raising USD 40 million (EUR 36.8m) to support the commercialisation of its products.

Mitra Chem is developing iron-based cathode materials to enable mass-market electrification in transportation and energy storage. It claims to use in-house machine learning technology that shortens the lab-to-production timeline by over 90%.

Apart from the investment, the partnership with GM will see Mitra Chem develop iron-based cathode active materials (CAM) like lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP) to power electric vehicle (EV) batteries compatible with GM's EV propulsion architecture, the Ultium Platform, according to a press release published earlier this week.

The first close of the financing round, which targets USD 60 million in total proceeds, also saw participation from various existing backers, such as Social Capital, Fontinalis Partners, Earthshot Ventures, The Keffi Group and Boutique Venture Partners. It also attracted new investors, including GS Futures, Bricks Capital Management, Zeon Ventures, Scribble VC, WovenEarth Ventures and Bonds Investment Group.

Mountain View, California-based Mitra Chem was founded in 2021. The company raised USD 20 million in its Series A round which was led by venture investor Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social Capital.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.920)

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