Battery tech startup Group14 announced that it has raised $400 million in a series C funding round led by luxury sports car manufacturer Porsche AG, with the financing aimed at helping the company expand its production capacity for advanced battery materials.

Group14’s advanced silicon-carbon technology aims to address electric vehicle adoption issues such as range and charge anxiety by significantly enhancing the performance of EV batteries. According to the company, the advanced materials help lithium-silicon batteries deliver 50% higher performance than traditional lithium-ion batteries. The company’s SCC55 technology boasts five times the capacity and up to 50% more energy density than conventional graphite for lithium battery anodes, and is compatible with existing manufacturing facilities, enabling major rapid increases in battery producers’ output.

Group14 co-founder & CEO Rick Luebbe said:

“Group14 is well-positioned to elevate all batteries by enabling the transformational performance of silicon in today’s lithium-ion and tomorrow’s solid-state applications. We have been laser-focused on scaling our factories to deliver commercial quantities to customers in a mission to eradicate charge anxiety as fast as possible.”

Group14 recently launched a commercial-scale Battery Active Materials factory in the U.S., and began development of a joint venture factory in South Korea with SK Group. The company plans to break ground on a second U.S. commercial scale factory, backed by the new financing, to stay ahead of market demand and deliver to customers including Porsche subsidiary Cellforce Group.

Lutz Meschke, Deputy Chairman and member of the executive board of Finance and IT at Porsche AG, said:

“Our investment in Group14 is an important step for Porsche’s M&A activities. We have been actively investing in ambitious companies since 2016 and through our venture capital unit Porsche Ventures, we have gained a deep understanding of the venture capital world and are excited to lead this round.”

Additional investors in the funding round included OMERS Capital Markets, Decarbonization Partners, Riverstone Holdings LLC, Vsquared Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, and other large institutional investors.