Next-generation battery materials startup Group14 Technologies today announced $169 million in new funding and plans to build a manufacturing facility in Spain, expanding a production network that includes Washington state and South Korea.

“In order to be a global player in a global industry, we need a global footprint, which means it’s not about picking one specific region and going all in,” Group14 CEO Rick Luebbe told GeekWire. “We really need to grow all regions.”

The startup has developed a silicon-carbon material that replaces graphite in lithium-ion battery anodes, enabling higher energy density and faster charging, according to the company. The material already ships primarily to consumer-electronics customers, while the company pursues automotive and data center applications, Luebbe said.

The funding came from a European investor, Luebbe said, but he did not name the firm. It extends the company’s $463 million Series D round and brings Group14’s total funding to nearly $1.5 billion.

The new facility will be located in Sagunto, near Valencia, with production targeted for mid-2029. Luebbe said the site offers clean energy, skilled labor from the chemical industry and proximity to automotive customers, given that Spain is the second-largest vehicle producer in Europe after Germany.

Group14 already has a presence on the continent, acquiring Germany’s Schmid Silicon Technology Holding GmbH in 2023 to secure a European source of silane gas, a key ingredient in its battery material.

Just as the U.S. has been working to bolster its domestic battery manufacturing and reduce its reliance on Chinese supplies, Europe is doing the same, Luebbe said. The company wants to be part of that solution and is eager to make its move.

“Building chemical plants takes a long time, and so you’ve got to think ahead and be able to establish that global footprint and development strategy,” Luebbe said. “We’ve learned a lot in the lifetime of Group14.”

Group14 was founded in 2015 and six years later began operating its first commercial-scale factory, called Battery Active Materials-1, or BAM-1, at its headquarters in Woodinville, Wash.

In 2023, it broke ground on BAM-2 in central Washington’s Moses Lake with funding that included $100 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The site has two modules that at full capacity will be able to produce up to 4,000 tons of silicon-carbon battery material annually, enough for at least 200,000 electric vehicles.

The company originally aimed to start production by late 2024, a target later pushed to early 2026. Group14 laid off an undisclosed number of Washington workers in July 2025 and furloughed additional employees at Moses Lake in January as it shifted resources toward South Korea. The company’s total headcount is approximately 383 employees.

Luebbe said this week that the company is now targeting mid-2027 to bring the first module online, following equipment installation and commissioning. The second module does not yet have a firm completion date.

“It’s a very complicated infrastructure, and it takes a lot longer than we had anticipated to do the final installation and commissioning,” he added.

The company has at least secured the power it needs. It previously contracted sufficient clean energy to run the site, as well as a planned silane gas facility. Since Group14 began its development, data center deployments have accelerated in the region and projects are competing for clean electricity from hydropower dams.

While BAM-2 has been delayed, Group14’s BAM-3 site in South Korea — which originally began as a joint venture with SK materials — has been producing anode material since 2024. The facility has been scaling up and expects to reach its 2,000-ton annual capacity within about six months, Luebbe said.

Group14 is shipping primarily to consumer-electronics customers, which qualify new materials faster than automakers. Luebbe also sees a growing opportunity in data-center battery backup units, where silicon-anode batteries could help smooth rapid spikes in AI-server power demand.

“I’m anticipating data center batteries, battery backup units, to be the second biggest market for us behind EVs,” he said.

Emerald Nuclear today announced a $2.1 million award from The Research Council of Norway to support its efforts to bring nuclear energy to the shipping industry and offshore power. The Seattle-based startup is developing high-temperature gas reactors that use an encapsulated fuel designed to resist meltdowns.

“This award will enable Emerald Nuclear to work directly with our marine partners to validate integration of our technology with their state-of-the-art marine power distribution and control systems,” said Wesley Deason, co-founder and CEO.

The funding supports Norway’s Marine Nuclear Propulsion System Pilot project, which is being led by Emerald Nuclear’s Norwegian subsidiary.

Shipping accounts for roughly 3% of global carbon dioxide emissions, making it a significant target for lower-carbon energy solutions. Some ferries serving shorter routes are adopting hybrid-electric propulsion. Shipping companies are exploring methanol, ammonia, biofuels and other alternatives to heavy fuel oil, but their climate benefits depend on how those fuels are produced and used.

Nuclear reactors have powered U.S. Navy submarines for more than 70 years. Now, a new wave of companies is working to expand nuclear power’s role in commercial shipping and other marine applications.

The award supports an early development step for Emerald Nuclear, with substantial work remaining before commercial deployment. The company has yet to build its first reactor, and its plans will require additional financing, regulatory approvals and a reliable fuel supply. The startup has previously received an undisclosed amount of funding from angel investors.

Emerald Nuclear has five employees, most of them in Norway, and is targeting two applications: offshore ships that help construct facilities like oil platforms and wind turbines and lay deep-sea cables, and floating power plants for remote communities. Each reactor is designed to produce 5 megawatts (6,705 horsepower), according to the company.

Bringing nuclear to the marine environment poses several significant challenges. They include safety issues, regulations for vessels traveling internationally, management of nuclear fuel and waste, and the way shipping companies frequently buy and sell vessels.

Deason said the company’s approach helps address those concerns:

• The reactor will use TRISO fuel, which consists of a uranium-containing kernel surrounded by protective carbon and silicon-carbide layers. The uranium is in short supply, but Deason is confident it will be available by the time the company is ready to deploy.
• Nuclear regulations are still being developed for international vessels, though initial deployments will be within a single country’s jurisdiction.
• Emerald Nuclear will have seaside manufacturing, providing easy access for ships and floating power plants that need installations, repairs and exchanges of fresh and spent fuel.
• The company will lease, rather than sell, its systems, allowing customers to swap nuclear in or out depending on their needs.

Emerald Nuclear is designing its technology “to integrate with the unique power needs of the ship, but also to meet the ways that the maritime industry does business,” Deason said.

Other companies pursuing nuclear ship propulsion include Core Power, newcleo and Blykalla. Core Power, Westinghouse, Saltfoss Energy and Prodigy Clean Energy are also developing floating nuclear power stations. Russia’s state-owned Rosatom already has nuclear-powered icebreakers and a floating nuclear power plant in operation.

Prior to launching Emerald Nuclear, Deason, a nuclear engineer, worked for Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. (USNC) developing reactors for space-based applications.

During his tenure at the Seattle company, a professor from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology approached USNC about applications for the maritime sector. USNC declared bankruptcy in October 2024 and the deal wasn’t pursued. But the idea interested Deason and Hallgeir Juliebø, a Norwegian entrepreneur who had been a consultant with USNC. The two co-founded Emerald Nuclear in 2024 and Juliebø serves as chief commercial officer.

Emerald Nuclear has signed a lease for an engineering center in Norway, where it’s designing and building its first prototype, a non-nuclear thermal device that will be used for the Marine Nuclear Propulsion System Pilot project.

Other partners for the project are VARD Group, Vard Electro, Island Offshore, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Imperial College London and Maskindynamikk, bringing together nuclear technology, ship design and integration, vessel operations and academic research.

The startup will build its first nuclear reactor, named the Gem Microreactor, at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, with 2030 as its goal for completion. Emerald Nuclear will integrate equipment from Peregrine Turbine Technologies in Maine to convert the reactor’s heat into electricity.

The target for the first commercial deployment is 2031, on a Norwegian offshore vessel.

Deason is hoping to open a manufacturing site in the future in Western Washington on Puget Sound with an initial focus on floating nuclear power systems that replace diesel generators. That phase of growth is roughly targeted to the early 2030s.

Endurance Energy says its prototype marine geothermal power system generated more electricity than it consumed during a recent deployment 300 miles off the Oregon coast — though the milestone lasted just 8.7 seconds.

The Seattle-based startup landed its 3-ton power plant on the seafloor near a natural vent releasing water at about 538 degrees Fahrenheit. The team operated the system remotely through a fiber-optic network running along the seabed.

The expedition marked Endurance’s fifth deployment to the ocean floor where it tested Adélie — a 100-kilowatt geothermal generator named for a penguin.

The company is part of a broader race to harness geothermal energy, using heat from water or steam under the Earth’s crust, converted into electricity. But while companies such as Fervo and Sage Geosystems focus on terrestrial sites, Endurance is the first commercial venture pursuing undersea sources.

“The main question we had is can the system generate more power than it uses,” Andrew Redd, Endurance’s founder and CEO, said in a statement about the expedition, which began last month.

“Adélie did,” he added. “Goddard’s first liquid-fueled rocket flew for two and a half seconds. Our first net-positive run lasted about nine. Our approach is to make it exist, then make it good.”

The test produced only a brief burst of surplus electricity, reaching a peak net output of 16.5 kilowatts. Challenges with the technology and a failure of a power cable cut the dive short.

The team also drilled what it called the world’s first geothermal well. At a site about 5,000 feet below the ocean’s surface, its machinery created two bore holes that tapped into hydrothermal fluid. It capped one hole and drilled a roughly 2-inch wide, 52-foot deep geothermal well at the other. While the well delivered hot fluid, it wasn’t suited for testing the energy system, sending the team to the natural vent.

Endurance said the expedition included voluntary environmental monitoring. The team mapped the seafloor to select the least disruptive test site, sampled water before and after operations, surveyed marine life and monitored sound.

While the startup has made rapid progress, its approach faces significant challenges: high pressure and corrosive conditions, mineral buildup inside equipment and the risk of costly repairs to seafloor machinery. And although many population centers sit near coastlines, the systems would still need expensive subsea cables to carry electricity over potentially long distances.

The company has raised $63 million from investors and has roughly three-dozen employees.

This winter, Endurance plans to deploy Gentoo, a refurbished and upgraded version of Adélie designed to generate more power for longer periods.

The company is also developing its first commercial project in Tonga, with the goal of delivering its first electricity in 2027.

Replicating the power of the sun to generate clean energy is hard enough, but Helion Energy just achieved another rare feat: making it onto the iconic “Jeopardy!” clue board.

During Tuesday evening’s episode, the $800 clue was featured in a category titled “Y Combinator” and read: “Helion says it’ll build the 1st power plant using this process, fission’s opposite with no uncontrolled chain reactions.”

Three-day champion Greg Monson, a videographer from Portland, Ore., buzzed in first with the correct response: “What is fusion?”

The shoutout didn’t go unnoticed in Everett, Wash., where Helion is based. CEO David Kirtley shared a video of the moment on LinkedIn, writing that it was “surreal to see Helion featured on Jeopardy! last night. And in great company with Y Combinator!”

Kirtley added, “Clean, safe, reliable power is getting a little more mainstream.”

Helion is a Y Combinator alum, having gone through the famed Silicon Valley accelerator’s Summer 2014 batch. Other correct responses in the category included Airbnb, The Athletic, Coinbase, and Twitch.

The game-show spotlight comes as Helion races to master fusion, which produces energy by smashing together light atoms. No one has been able to create a commercially viable amount of energy from fusion here on Earth, though notable progress is being made by research institutions and private companies.

Helion has generated plenty of momentum of its own in the process. In June, the startup announced $465 million in new funding, bringing its total capital raised to more than $1.5 billion and its valuation to 10 times that figure.

The company also recently expanded into a new 15,000-square-foot office in downtown Seattle and pushed its total headcount past 800 employees. Helion currently holds the No. 2 spot on the GeekWire 200 ranking of top Pacific Northwest startups.