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September 14, 2023 03:52 AM

Renault-backed battery startup Verkor raises $2.15B for gigafactory

Renault Group, a part owner, plans to use Verkor batteries in high-performance EVs from Alpine and Renault brands.

Reuters
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    Alpine Alpenglow concept

    The Alpine Alpenglow concept for a high-performance EV. The Renault Group brand plans to use Verkor batteries in future models.

    PARIS – Verkor, a French battery startup partly owned by Renault Group, said it has secured more than 2 billion euros ($2.15 billion) in funding to build a gigafactory on the northeast French coast in Dunkirk, thanks mainly to a capital increase from investors including infrastructure funds and insurers.

    The funding consists of 850 million euros in capital -- the largest ever fund-raising for a French tech startup, according to a French government source -- 600 million euros in loans from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and 650 million euros in state subsidies that await European Commission approval.

    A co-founder of the Grenoble-based start-up told Reuters last week that Verkor was near to completing the first tranche of financing for the Dunkirk gigafactory, one of the four sites in a "battery valley" in northern France. 

    The Verkor gigafactory should create 1,200 direct jobs and 3,000 indirect jobs, and start production in mid-2025. It will have an initial production capacity of 16 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year, including 12 for Renault Group.

    Renault, an early supporter of Verkor, will see its stake diluted in this new phase to 10% from 24%. The French carmaker should retain a seat on the board of directors, said a source close to Renault.

    Renault says it will use batteries built by Verkor in high-performance and “upper segment” models from Renault brand and Alpine, which Renault is developing into a full-fledged, EV-focused brand. The first model expected to use Verkor batteries is the Alpine GT compact SUV, due in 2025.

    A rendering of a Verkor gigafactory. The startup says its planned facility in Dunkirk, northern France, would have annual capacity of 16 gigawatt-hours.

    "This international funding strengthens our long-term prospects,” Verkor Managing Director Benoit Lemaignan said in a statement. “We are now on track to become one of Europe's leading battery manufacturers." 

    "This now puts us fully into action and allows us to realize the plan when we created the company three years ago,” Lemaignan told Reuters.

    After the capital increase, Australian infrastructure fund Macquarie and French counterpart Meridiam will become Verkor's two main shareholders.

    The funding increase also includes new investments from Fonds Strategique de Participations (FSP), an alliance of seven French insurance companies that holds stakes in innovative industrial players, and maritime transport group CMA CGM alongside existing shareholders such as Renault and Bpifrance.

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