Battery Startup Hengtron Nanotech Tops 100M Yuan in Pre-A Round Funds

Lithium-ion battery developer Hengtron Nanotech announced on July 19 that it has completed pre-A round financing of over 100 million yuan ($14.8 million). This round was led by Jiangsu Yueda Investment, with joint investment by WOFO Capital, GL Ventures, Skyworth Investment, Ningbo Exciton Technology, RichLand Capital and Vstone Capital.

The new funds will be used for the R&D and production of 5,000 tons of lithium ferromanganese phosphate, a cathode material used for lithium-ion batteries.

Established in February 2022, Hengtron Nanotech specializes in the R&D, production and sales of lithium-ion batteries and its core materials for a wide range of applications in new energy vehicles, two-wheeled electric vehicles and energy storage systems.

At present, the first phase with annual production capacity of 5,000 tons of lithium ferromanganese phosphate cathode material is being built in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province. It will reportedly be put into operation at the end of the year, with the battery material R&D laboratory completed at the same time. Together with follow-up investment in Phase II and Phase III, it will eventually reach a total annual output of 150,000 tons.

The founding team of Hengtron Nanotech is composed of former executives and R&D personnel of world-renowned enterprises, such as GE and Dow Chemical, with nearly 20 years of experience in the lithium battery cathode material industry. The company owns the global core patents for lithium ferromanganese phosphate and other battery materials bought out from Dow Chemical.

Zhang Yan, Chairman of Hengtron Nanotech, graduated from National University of Singapore and is a Ph.D. and postdoctoral fellow of the Singapore Institute of Microelectronics. Zhang first started his business, Exciton Technology, in Ningbo in 2008, which was successfully listed on the ChiNext in 2016.

SEE ALSO: Scale of China’s Power Battery Recycling Market to Exceed $5.93B in 2025

Zhang said that the key to success for exciton technology is excellent products, focused specialty and top-notch talent. These three elements are all present in Hengtron Nanotech. China is the world’s largest power battery market, and the sales volume of electric vehicles continues to exceed expectations in 2022, laying the foundation for Hengtron Nanotech to become the world’s top battery supplier.