International Battery Company raises $35 M; looks to expand its India giga factory

US-based lithium-ion battery maker, International Battery Company (IBC) has completed a Pre-Series A funding round and raised $35 million for building a lithium-ion cell manufacturing facility in India.

The pre-Series A funding round was led by RTP Global and saw participation from Beenext, Veda VC and various strategic Korean and US investors. The latest funding round comes ahead of a bigger round where IBC is looking to raise about $70 million, as per media reports.

"There is a lot of demand in the Indian market, which is satisfied through imports right now. No cells are being manufactured in India. So, we want to participate in that journey in India," Priyadarshi Panda, founder and CEO of International Battery Company, told TechCrunch in an interview.

Currently, several battery manufacturing companies in India are setting up factories aimed at tapping into the growing demand for electric vehicles and stationary storage.

In August 2023, IBC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Karnataka, a southern Indian state to build a 10GWh lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility in Bengaluru by 2028 with an outlay of INR 8000 crore. The company plans to build an initial 2GWh facility in the state by 2025.

Reports suggest IBC received certification from India's standard body, Bureau of India Standards (BIS) in December to start selling its EV battery cells in India.

In its initial phase, the company is targeting supplying batteries to the small mobility sector comprising electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers, light commercial vehicles (LCV), and farm and industry equipment.

"Once we, with a focused approach, penetrate and provide compelling solutions to the customer base in India, primarily in the small mobility sector, be in the two-wheeler, three-wheeler, LCV, farm and industry equipment, then we will look at other markets such as Korea, North America, and Europe," Panda said.