ACT-ion Battery Technologies has raised $4 million in Pre-Series A funding to accelerate its mission of delivering high-performance and low-cost single crystal cathode active materials. The round was led by KB Investment, a South Korea-based venture capital firm with deep roots in advanced materials and energy.

ACT-ion is building the next frontier of sustainable, scalable, and cost-efficient battery material production. Its breakthrough lies in a high-throughput continuous manufacturing process that significantly reduces waste and emissions - an innovation with the potential to reshape how the world sources core components for electric vehicles (EVs), renewable storage, and next-gen electronics.

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Why This Technology Matters

Cathode materials are the beating heart of lithium-ion batteries. They account for nearly 40% of the cost of a battery and directly influence performance, safety, and lifecycle. Today, most cathodes are manufactured using batch processes that are resource-intensive, energy-hungry, and prone to inefficiencies.

ACT-ion is rewriting that playbook by:

• Continuous Processing: Replacing batch manufacturing with a streamlined, high-throughput approach.
  
• Single Crystal Cathodes: Enabling longer battery life and improved thermal stability.
  
• Lower Waste & Emissions: Reducing environmental impact while improving cost competitiveness.
  

This combination isn’t just incremental - it could unlock a step-change in how cathode active materials are produced at industrial scale.

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Founder Vision: From Research to Scalable Impact

ACT-ion is led by Jin-Myoung Lim, who brings both deep technical expertise and entrepreneurial drive to the challenge. Lim’s leadership is focused on bridging the gap between lab breakthroughs and industrial-scale manufacturing - a gap that has plagued the battery sector for decades.

While many startups chase new chemistries, ACT-ion’s insight is that the bottleneck isn’t always in the science itself - it’s in scaling production efficiently and sustainably. By focusing on process innovation, ACT-ion is tackling the infrastructure problem at the core of battery economics.

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Funding Impact

The $4M raise will accelerate several priorities:

• Pilot Production Expansion: Scaling continuous manufacturing lines to demonstrate commercial viability.
  
• R&D Partnerships: Collaborating with EV manufacturers and energy storage companies.
  
• Talent Acquisition: Growing its team of materials scientists and process engineers.
  
• Market Readiness: Positioning for large-scale commercialization ahead of a larger Series A.
  

Backer KB Investment is notable not just for its capital but also for its network. With decades of investment in Asia’s advanced materials ecosystem, KB brings strategic connections to suppliers, OEMs, and governments.

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Founders’ Playbook: Why Process Innovation is Undervalued

Here’s a rarely discussed truth: in emerging industries, product innovation gets the spotlight, but process innovation builds the moat.

It’s easy to hype a breakthrough material or a new chemistry. But if you can’t scale it at cost parity - or better, at cost advantage - those breakthroughs remain locked in academic papers. Investors and founders often underestimate how manufacturing processes themselves can become a defensible advantage, especially in industries where margins tighten as adoption grows.

ACT-ion’s focus on continuous manufacturing reflects this principle. Once perfected, it doesn’t just lower costs for one product line; it establishes a scalable platform that adapts to future materials, chemistries, and applications. In markets like batteries - where demand is projected to quadruple by 2030 - owning the process is as important as owning the IP.

For founders in deep tech, this is a reminder: investors care not just about “what” you build, but “how” you can make it repeatable, defensible, and sustainable. Process mastery can be the wedge that determines which startups survive commoditization.

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Market Outlook: The Battery Boom and Its Challenges

The timing of ACT-ion’s raise is no accident. The battery industry is in the middle of a global race.

• Battery Demand Growth: According to BloombergNEF, global demand for lithium-ion batteries is expected to reach 5,500 GWh by 2035, up from 950 GWh in 2023.
  
• Cathode Market Size: The cathode materials market alone is projected to exceed $61 billion by 2030, with single crystal cathodes expected to gain traction due to their durability and performance.
  
• Sustainability Pressures: Manufacturing is under scrutiny. A McKinsey study found that 80% of EV emissions reductions depend on decarbonizing the supply chain, not just replacing combustion engines.
  

This creates a critical opportunity: technologies that cut waste, lower emissions, and boost efficiency are not just nice-to-have - they’re becoming requirements for global automakers and governments alike.

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The Bigger Picture: U.S. and Global Repositioning

ACT-ion is also strategically positioned in the U.S. energy ecosystem. With the Inflation Reduction Act and U.S. Department of Energy pushing to secure domestic supply chains for EV and grid storage batteries, companies that can produce critical materials locally and sustainably are in high demand.

Meanwhile, Asia - especially South Korea and China - continues to dominate the cathode supply chain. ACT-ion’s backing by a Korean VC suggests that this startup could become a bridge between U.S. market needs and Asia’s supply chain expertise, creating a truly global platform for battery innovation.

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Final Thoughts

ACT-ion Battery Technologies’ $4M Pre-Series A marks an important step in advancing the industrial backbone of the energy transition. By focusing on high-throughput continuous manufacturing of single crystal cathodes, ACT-ion isn’t chasing headlines - it’s building the infrastructure that will quietly power the future of EVs, renewable energy, and beyond.

For founders, the takeaway is clear: process innovation may not look glamorous, but it can build the most durable advantage in complex, high-growth industries.