We have a simple business model; produce and sell a drop-in additive to the largest 100 battery manufacturers (firms CATL China, LG Energy, Panasonic, and Samsung), use distribution partners for everyone else; and/or license the technology to the material’s to chemical companies (like Mitsui in Japan, DuPont, BASF, SABIC, etc.).

EV OEMs are driving silicon adoption. They have three steps to their qualification process, 1) test on their equipment and chemistries to validate, 2) test in 100 batteries, and 3) conduct 100,000 mile test.

Our beachhead market is the drone and EVTOL with faster development times than EVs and a willingness to pay significantly higher prices for enhanced performance.

What Makes Us Special: Our validated MVP is better than any silicon-graphite additive in development or on the market because of our radically innovative manufacturing approach. We are a deep-tech spin-out from the Univerisity of Riverside. Our founder Lorenzo Mangolini Ph.D. is a widely recognized expert in silicon plasma synthesis with multiple awards, 60+ academic papers, and multiple patents. 

Our material stores 4X the energy of graphite. It reduces charge times, reduces weight, and works with the existing global lithium-ion battery infrastructure. It enables a battery to be 20% to 40% cheaper, 80% cleaner, lighter, and with 30%+ more power than graphite lithium-ion batteries. No other technology has this blend of characteristics. We are purpose-driven to enable a battery-powered future.

Introduction: Why 4th State Energies? There are four states of matter: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. Our founder, Lorenzo Mangolini, Ph.D., invented the low-energy-plasma silicon nanoparticle production method, which we have perfected. This fundamentally superior process produces a radically innovative, higher-performance, lower-cost, 100% graphite-free leapfrog to a 2nd generation silicon anode set to revolutionize any graphite-based lithium-ion battery, regardless of chemistry or format… and creates IRA tax credits through the sale of hydrogen as our only byproduct. 

We are a quadruple climate play: 

1)    Cheaper, stronger, lighter batteries to help EVs, drones, and EVTOLS,

2)    100% graphite replacement, a critical mineral that is dirty,

3)    Our by-product is hydrogen, supporting the emergent hydrogen economy,

4) And we capture 100% of the carbon from our source gas (acetylene or natural gas), sequestering it in a highly valuable silicon-carbon battery material. 

 

 Business Description: 4th State Energies perfected a world-beating, patented silicon ultra-nanoparticle that immediately improves lithium-ion batteries. We offer the highest-performance (4X), least-cost (first principles) silicon material, enabling battery manufacturers to replace graphite 100% without any changes to manufacturing equipment or protocols. 

Product/Market Fit: Our product works for any Li-ion battery application, including EVs. Without our innovation, the emerging silicon anode material sector will not be able to displace more than 2% of the $60 billion projected graphite market in 2030. Our approach scales faster, more efficiently, less costly, and is 100% graphite-free. We will start in niches that have high-energy, performance-driven, less price-sensitive, specifically drones. 

Business Model: 4th State Energies is establishing a business as a universal material supplier for battery manufacturers. This approach leverages all Li-ion batteries' existing manufacturing base, applications, and sales channels. The beachhead market is commercial drones, growing at over 50% annually and reaching $128 billion by 2025.

Customers: During our customer exploration effort, various companies have expressed great interest in our material. ACS Materials (USA), a nanomaterials supplier, expressed interest in supplying the 4th State Energies additive to their established customers. ADPM Drones (Italy), a drone manufacturer, expressed interest in being a test bench for our technology in the drone market. We have one battery manufacturer interested in integrating our material into batteries for the DOD. 

Management: Our award-winning startup team brings together expertise spanning nanomaterials engineering (Dr. Mangolini and Dr. Ghildiyal), commercial product development and entrepreneurship (Dr. Hatch), and battery industry advisors like Mr. Art Salyer, who has deep experience as a C-level Li-ion battery executive.

Technology Status: TRL = 6+. Our IP-protected material has been extensively tested by a third-party battery validation company (SpectraPower, CA, USA). Our material uses known scalable manufacturing processes and equipment. Unlike our competitors, it does not require exotic materials/methods and can be easily integrated into existing manufacturing. With a radically more straightforward and lower-cost manufacturing process, we have a fundamental economic and performance advantage.

 Impact and Sustainability: Our powder dramatically boosts the storage capacity of any commercial Li-ion battery. Replacing 100% graphite with silicon, we reduce CO2 emissions—50 tonnes per electric vehicle. This shift also mitigates graphite supply chain risks. Further, hydrogen is our only production byproduct, providing up to $3 per kilogram of credits and sales to support the emerging hydrogen economy. 

Wins: CleanTech Open 2024 Cohort (100 of 1,000 applicants) & Semi-Finalist, NREL Global Growth Forum 2024 (40 of 200 applicants) & and Semi-Finalist, Pepperdine’s Most Fundable Startups 2024 (100 of 2000 applicants)& Semi-finalist, four non-equity grants from the US DOE and California.