US-based materials and manufacturing firm Estes Energy has raised $11 million in seed capital to finalize development of its multi-chemistry battery pack platform and establish manufacturing operations in the US. The platform is capable of using either nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells.

The round was co-led by BMW i Ventures and Fortescue. New System Ventures and early investor DCVC also participated. The company has raised $20 million to date. It will deploy its capital to expand the development team, build out its pilot manufacturing capability, and begin deploying battery systems to early customers during the fourth quarter of 2025.

Estes says mass-sensitive applications will benefit from its NMC pack variant, which boasts an energy density of 380 Wh/L, while cost-sensitive applications will be addressed by the company’s LFP-powered variant. Both systems are suitable for heavy-use applications and are seamlessly interchangeable, offering OEMs the ability to serve broad markets from a single integration effort, the company said.

Estes is seeing strong interest from commercial partners and OEMs across multiple sectors. The pilot manufacturing line enabled by the new funding will allow Estes to begin fulfilling these strategic opportunities while supporting the US-based battery supply chain.

“We’re seeing the electrification market open up from the initial wave of passenger car and commercial vehicle growth, expanding rapidly into defense, aviation, marine, rail, port, construction and mining sectors, as well as novel robotics and autonomy applications,” said Dustin Grace, CEO of Estes. “The need for the next generation of battery systems is accelerating, and this funding propels us towards serving these markets at the level of performance, economics, and domestic resilience necessary for sustainable growth.”

Source: Estes Energy Solutions