Lithium-ion batteries have dropped in cost by 75% over the past decade, a marvel of research and development that isn’t the result of a singular breakthrough but of myriad incremental improvements.
Few know that better than Chaitanya Sharma, founder of the stealthy Nascent Materials. Sharma spent a little over two years working at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Nevada and another two leading iM3NY, a lithium-ion manufacturer in New York.
Since leaving iM3NY in November 2023, he’s been working on a new way to process cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries — one of those small improvements that promises to continue driving down costs. Nascent’s new process could improve energy density of the cathode by up to 12% while costing 30% less to make.
“In my mind, developing a new exotic chemistry is not really the way that I want to go,” Sharma told TechCrunch. “I want to develop new ways of making material.”
Sharma’s manufacturing-focused approach has attracted early investment. Nascent recently raised $2.3 million in a seed round led by SOSV, the company exclusively told TechCrunch. The New Jersey Innovation Evergreen Fund and UM6P Ventures also participated.
The startup’s initial focus is on making lithium-ion-phosphate (LFP) and lithium-manganese-iron-phosphate, (LMFP), two cathode materials that have gained favor among automakers and data center operators. Recent improvements have brought LFP energy density closer to higher-end nickel- and cobalt-based chemistries but at much lower costs.
But there’s still room for improvement. Sharma said that obtaining materials with consistent quality was a challenge at iM3NY, one that contributed to the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in January.
The problem stems from supply chain inequities. Large players like Tesla’s Gigafactory, which it operates in partnership with Panasonic, tend to get more consistent material, Sharma said. “The small players, which, by the way, spend $100 million to $200 million on their factories as well, they get the outlier material.”
“That really became the reason why I wanted to launch Nascent Materials — because I want to make sure that I provide consistent materials to all customers,” Sharma said.
Cathode material tends to come in powders, and while it might look consistent to the naked eye, slight variations in the grains can have an outsized impact on the final result. Sharma said Nascent has developed a process that uses less energy while also promising to create particles that are more consistently sized and shaped. That allows the material to be packed more tightly, improving energy density.
The process offers additional supply chain advantages. It can also use lower-purity raw materials, he said, opening up more domestic supplies. While Nascent is focused on LFP and LMFP today, Sharma said the company plans to expand to other chemistries, including nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) and lithium-manganese-rich (LMR), a relatively new chemistry that GM will introduce in 2028.
That domestic focus addresses a critical industry dependency. Today, the vast majority of cathode material is made in China.
“How can I not rely on China for them?” Sharma said. “That’s really what we are focused on — simplifying the supply chain so we can utilize local raw materials, so that drives the cost down.”
