Startup Holyvolt Raises $45M to Develop Battery Tech Outside China

Holyvolt said it raised $45 million, entirely in equity, to develop battery chemistries outside China's control. The Stockholm-based startup named Fifth Wall, Zone II, CC.VC and several angel investors from the defense and finance industries as investors. The round values Holyvolt at $245 million, according to a person familiar with the company.

China makes about 85% of the world's cathode active material, which largely determines a battery's energy storage and cost. China makes about 80% of the world's battery cells. China's lead comes from scaling the dominant NMC and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistries. Holyvolt Chief Operating Officer Steven Prast, a former Tesla manufacturing leader, estimates lithium-ion technology is at best 20% through its maturity curve, or perhaps 10% conservatively. Prast argued that the West cannot win by competing with China in established chemistries, including LFP. Prast said the answer is to invent better materials and processes and manufacture those materials in the West, with perhaps another dozen cathode materials still undiscovered.

Prast argued that batteries have not followed computer chips' predictable improvement because chemistry retains mysteries that cannot be solved computationally like physics. Prast said most AI-driven science researchers believe chemistry can be solved computationally, while a smaller group believes AI still requires laboratory testing. Holyvolt follows the laboratory-testing approach.

Holyvolt merged with San Diego-based Wildcat Discovery Technologies in a deal that The Next Web reported at $73 million in March, a figure the firm confirmed. Wildcat, founded by Scripps chemist Peter Schultz, built a high-throughput system that tests thousands of battery materials in parallel. Wildcat says the platform completed more than 225 projects for more than 85 customers, including BMW, over 18 years. Wildcat says the platform tested more than 500,000 cells during that period. Holyvolt founder and CEO Mathias Ingvarsson said the merged company trained AI models on Wildcat's results and connected the models to the laboratory. Ingvarsson said each round of physical tests improves the next prediction.

The data and laboratory support AI models intended to deliver market-requested predictions, accelerate research and development, and develop breakthrough chemistries. Ingvarsson contrasted Holyvolt's approach with startups that begin with models and then seek data, citing 20 years of reinforcement learning. Ingvarsson said Holyvolt's existing capabilities would take years to build. Ingvarsson said a customer case study showed the laboratory already works 10 times faster than conventional research and development. Holyvolt believes integrating AI into the testing cycle will increase that advantage, and Ingvarsson claimed the company had solved how to do so.

The first output from that cycle is DRX, short for disordered rocksalt, a family of cathode materials containing neither nickel nor cobalt. Prast described DRX as offering NMC-like performance that is equal to or better than nickel-based chemistry. Prast said DRX offers that performance at roughly LFP's landed cost in North America. Prast said an "entirely friendly" supply chain was a core design requirement, but Prast declined to identify suppliers. DRX performance data has been published at scientific conferences, including the International Battery Conference in March 2026.

Section 154 of the fiscal 2024 defense authorization act bars Pentagon battery purchases from CATL, BYD and four other named Chinese manufacturers starting October 1, 2027. The restriction comes as the military seeks to expand drone use. Holyvolt plans to begin commercializing DRX in 2027, starting with unmanned aerial vehicles before moving into mobility. Prast said Holyvolt is also developing formulations for automakers. Prast said another formulation targets data centers, which require bursts of very high power as GPUs start operating.

Holyvolt does not plan to build gigafactories. Prast said Holyvolt is open to licensing, toll manufacturing or joint ventures and would leave industrial-scale production to partners. Prast described the transition to industrial scale as a major challenge. Prast said growing up in northern Michigan with a long family history in the auto industry made the issue personal. Prast framed excessive geographic concentration as a source of instability rather than simply a rivalry with China. Ingvarsson said he had nothing against China and noted that Volvo Cars is now Chinese-owned. China's Geely owns a majority of Volvo Cars.