Building better batteries has become a national priority, and Sila is betting $300 million that its silicon-based chemistry can deliver. The California startup announced new funding from Atreides Management and Sutter Hill Ventures, with existing backers 8VC, Bessemer Venture Partners and T. Rowe Price also participating.
Sila replaces the graphite traditionally used in lithium-ion battery anodes with a silicon-carbon material that stores more energy. The chemistry is already in production at the company’s Moses Lake, Washington plant, the first automotive-scale silicon anode factory in the United States.
The expansion plans are ambitious. Current capacity sits at roughly 2 gigawatt-hours, enough to supply tens of thousands of electric vehicles. The next phase aims to scale into the tens of gigawatt-hours to meet demand that extends well beyond cars.
CEO Gene Berdichevsky, a former Tesla engineer, told GeekWire that AI is reshaping demand for batteries. Data centers, drones, robotics and space hardware all need better energy storage, he said, while national security concerns make domestic production essential.
The funding climate for battery startups has been uneven. Rival Group14, also based in Washington state, paused US manufacturing to focus on South Korea. Sila has now raised over $1.6 billion in total, with 400 employees working across its California headquarters and Moses Lake facility.
