Idaho-based lithium-ion battery producer KORE Power said it closed on an initial $75 million tranche of a private placement anticipated to total $150 million.
Siemens Financial Services was the lead investor. It was joined by Quanta Services, Nidec Motor Corp., Honeywell Ventures, Trog Hawley Capital and an unnamed utility-scale energy storage provider.
KORE said it intends to use proceeds to start construction of its KOREPlex factory in the Phoenix area and to buy long lead-time items required for construction.
The factory is expected to have initial annual production capacity of 6 GWh of high-density lithium-ion cells. Production could eventually grow to 12 GWh to meet expected market demand.
The factory is being built independently of an automotive OEM. The company said this would allow it to supply batteries to a variety of e-mobility and energy storage customers. KORE said it plans to break ground on the KOREPlex yet this year, with initial output beginning in late 2024.
The company said it expects demand for its batteries to grow due to the domestic content required to fully maximize the energy storage investment tax credit available under the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act.
Since announcing in 2021 that its factory would be built in Arizona, KORE has announced a series of deals to secure U.S. supply of materials used in battery cell manufacturing. KORE also launched a vertically integrated energy storage solutions company known as KORE Solutions.
KORE is based in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, with operations in Waterbury, Vermont, and Buckeye, Arizona.
