All Access

Climate Deals

Standard

Climate Deals Thought Bubble

Thought Bubble

Climate Deals Alerts

Alert

mustard

BFD Expert Voices - Climate Deals

BFD Expert Voices

Battery materials startup Elevated Materials has spun out of Applied Materials with growth funding from TPG Rise Climate. 

Why it matters: Private equity is willing to back a deeptech startup if it's got substantial customers lined up. 

Zoom in: Elevated Materials declined to disclose the size of the investment but executives referred to it as "growth" and "closer to the [Series] D phase."

The startup is launching with about 100 employees from chip equipment maker Applied Materials and is bringing along "several hundred patents," says Elevated Materials CEO Jim Cushing. The tech has been under development in Applied Materials for about a decade. 

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based spinout plans to use the funds to grow manufacturing of its battery thin film materials at its plant in Alzenau, Germany. 

Cushing said the company has several multimillion-dollar contracts and is working with customers like big battery makers, automotive OEMs, electric aviation companies and advanced battery startups. 

How it works: Elevated Materials makes lithium thin films that can add energy density and extend battery life in lithium-ion batteries. 

The startup's thin films can be used in batteries that have a graphite anode or a silicon-based anode to overcome what the industry calls "first cycle loss," where batteries lose a portion of their energy density when first charged. 

The lithium thin films can also be used to boost the number of times a battery can be charged, adding years to its life.

In addition, advanced lithium-metal batteries (also called solid-state batteries) can use the thin films to help charge more smoothly. 

The intrigue: Lithium is very reactive, and to deal with it, you put it in a vacuum, explains Dean Frankel, Elevated Materials' VP of Sales & Marketing. 

If Elevated Materials is successful, "it would be one of the first to scale vacuum processes for batteries," says Frankel. 

The big picture: Being incubated inside Applied Materials enabled a private equity firm like TPG Rise Climate to lead a sizable investment.

Lithium-ion batteries are the cornerstone of both clean energy and electric transportation.

Tech that can reliably make batteries longer lasting and more powerful could have a huge market.

Solid-state batteries aren't yet being produced at large scale because they still need innovations to reduce cost and grow manufacturing capability.

Exclusive: TPG backs Applied Materials battery spinout

Elevated Materials' thin films adds lithium to extend battery life and boost energy

Rolls of thin film lithium made by Elevated Materials, a spinout of Applied Materials

Rolls of lithium thin films made by Elevated Materials. Photo: Courtesy of Elevated Materials

Battery materials startup Elevated Materials has spun out of Applied Materials with growth funding from TPG Rise Climate. Why it matters: Private equity is willing to back a deeptech startup if it&#x27;s got substantial customers lined up.

topics

politics-policy

epstein-files

donald-trump

2026-midterm-elections

immigration

behind-the-curtain

race-and-equity

technology

privacy-tech-regulation

automation-and-ai

tiktok-news

big-tech

social-media

cybersecurity

economy

social-security

inflation

tariffs

federal-reserve

jobs

transportation

business

stock-market-news

retail-news

crypto

media

elon-musk

dealmaking

health

rfk-jr

drug-prices

axios-explains-abortion

public-health

world

israel

axios-explains-ukraine

iran

russia

china

energy-climate

nuclear-energy

climate-energy-policy

climate-change

extreme-weather

alternative-energy

electric-vehicles

science

emerging-tech

biomedicine

newsletters

charlotte

boulder

detroit

kansas-city

columbus

austin

dallas

atlanta

washington-dc

nw-arkansas

chicago

indianapolis

nashville

richmond

colorado-springs

houston

san-francisco

seattle

boston

des-moines

salt-lake-city

philadelphia

denver

phoenix

new-orleans

miami

twin-cities

raleigh

san-antonio

portland

san-diego

tampa-bay

cleveland

huntsville

pittsburgh

axios-local

axios-pro

axios-live

the-axios-show

Exclusive: TPG backs Applied Materials battery spinout

What to read next