Lithium Technology Startup Lilac Solutions Raises $150 mln in Series B Funding

Lilac Solutions, an Oakland-based lithium technology startup, closed a $150 million Series B funding round to scale lithium supply for the electric vehicle market.

Lowercarbon Capital led the funding round with participation from existing investors The Engine and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. New entrants Valor Equity Partners and Mercuria Energy Trading also joined this round. This round brings the total funding raised by the startup to $173.6 million. John Qian, portfolio manager of T. Rowe Price, said about the round:

“Lilac Solutions holds significant promise in unlocking the world’s latent lithium resources that are currently too low-grade to be conventionally harvested. What’s even more appealing, however, is that the environmental impact of Lilac’s extraction process is potentially orders of magnitude less than more conventional methods. We believe that Lilac is well-positioned to address this important issue facing current and future generations around the world.”

Founded in 2016, Lilac has developed new ion exchange technology that increases the production of lithium from brine resources. In addition to being proven on a variety of brines, its technology recently completed the first field pilot to set a new standard for deployment and process performance in the field. Dave Snydacker, CEO of Lilac Solutions, said about the startup’s role in the global economy:

“Electric vehicles are a low-carbon success story, but the lithium raw materials needed for batteries have become a serious bottleneck. The lithium industry has been plagued by technical and environmental problems that have put the energy transition in jeopardy. Lilac’s technology solves these problems and will finally enable lithium production at a scale demanded for the energy transition.”

The proceeds from the round will be invested in fueling the production of ion-exchange beads, growing its engineer and field operator workforce, and rolling out its technology globally to accelerate the startup’s growth.

The demand for lithium has rapidly increased over the past years as manufacturers start transitioning toward the production of electric vehicles. This has created an increasing need for technologies like the one developed by the lithium technology startup to improve the extraction of lithium while also minimizing its environmental impact.