QuantumScape, the decade-old battery startup funded by Volkswagen in Silicon Valley, said Thursday it planned to list on Wall Street in a reverse consolidation with special-purpose holding group Kensington Capital Acquisition.
QuantumScape is seeking funding to help it commercialize solid-state batteries for electric vehicles in a joint venture that will give the company a post-contract market price tag of around $3.3 billion.
The San Jose-headquartered QuantumScape said it will establish a partnership with Volkswagen to manufacture power cells beginning in 2024, for the German motor-vehicle manufacturer's electric cars and, ultimately, for other makers as well.
Volkswagen, which entered the scene in 2012, has shelled out $300 million in QuantumScape, including $200 million this year. Other corporate backers include German car supplier Continental AG and Shanghai Auto, which teamed up with Volkswagen in China.
According to QuantumScape, it was able to secure more than $700 million in funding through the merger - an amount that includes $500 million in private funding through public equity. The investment was supported by investment groups Janus Transaction and Fidelity Management & Research Co.
The deal emphasizes the growing interest by capital in emerging electric vehicle technologies because of increasing demand. The agreement underscores the increase in so-called back-door listings on public stock exchanges, Bloomberg News reported.
QuantumScape's most prominent financiers include Microsoft founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, Kleiner Perkins and Khosla Ventures - including the Qatar Investment Authority, who also joined in the latest funding series.
QuantumScape's corporate team has wealthy investors in the electric-vehicle business - notably former Tesla chief technical officer Jeffrey Brian Straubel, who described QuantumScape's solid-state battery "the most elegant architecture" for a lithium-based battery design.
QuantumScape's goal is to be a large supplier of batteries to the "industry as a whole," company chief executive officer and founder Jagdeep Singh said.
