Israeli-headquartered StoreDot could be one of the hottest IPOs of the year if the company manages to come to market.
Still privately held at the moment, StoreDot has managed to produce batteries in its factory that are capable of fully charging in five minutes. This has major implications for the EV industry, as it means you could charge an EV in the same time frame as a petrol one.
This could be an extremely important company for the EV market. StoreDot has been doing its R&D in Israel with manufacturing in China by Eve Energy. It uses lithium-ion batteries, which Armchair Trader readers will now be familiar with thanks to our extensive coverage of battery technology play Nano One TSX:NANO.
StoreDot has already produced fast charging batteries that can work on a smaller scale. It has manufactured 1000 batteries which can be used in phones, scooters and drones. The company is getting massive interest because it has produced batteries that have actually come off a production line, and are well beyond prototype stage.
Batteries ready for EVs by 2025
StoreDot reckons it can have its fast-charging batteries available for use in EVs by 2025, and that seems to be the general consensus. StoreDot has attracted some considerable institutional backing already, with companies like Samsung, Daimler and energy giant BP already supporting this potential game changer. BP Ventures, for example, has sunk $20m into StoreDot. Other investors include EG Capital Advisors and Millhouse.
The motor industry knows that the fast-charging battery is one of the holy grails that are needed to make EVs work just like their petrol burning ancestors. Drivers will want to charge cars quickly, rather that leaving them overnight to charge in the drive. It is therefore no wonder that the technology has attracted the interest of BP.
StoreDot stock still in private hands
Right now StoreDot still sits in private hands. US unlisted stocks platform EquityZen has been offering to buy and sell shares in StoreDot but supply would really depend on having owners of the existing shares ready to sell through EquityZen. Investors interested in getting into the stock ahead of IPO could contact EquityZen to see if there is availability.
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The Armchair Trader has reached out to EquityZen for confirmation of whether they do currently hold any StoreDot shares on offer. We consider it to be unlikely, as any shareholders will be waiting to see what the effect of an ultimate IPO might have on the StoreDot share price. EquityZen had not confirmed availability of StoreDot stock at time of writing.
EquityZen specialises in the private secondary market and has closed over 11,000 investments for more than 200 private, venture-backed companies, among then Spotify and DraftKings. The platform acts as an intermediary between shareholders who need liquidity and investors who want investment exposure to proven technology companies before they IPO or get acquired. EquityZen estimates that there is over $50bn of value locked up in private, pre-IPO companies.
StoreDot currently sits right in the nexus of converging investor interests – namely ESG, electric vehicles, and the roll out of lithium-ion batteries. Should the company come to the market in 2021, which envisage it will attract enormous interest.
