Eos Energy Storage, a manufacturer of zinc-based battery technology, was listed on the Nasdaq on Tuesday following its acquisition by a special-purpose acquisition company.
The deal is projected to give Eos a pro forma market capitalization of $500 million.
"When we looked at putting together the merger transaction, it really secured us the capital to be able to grow the company over the long haul and take it to sustainable profitability," CEO Joe Mastrangelo told Cheddar.
With fresh capital backing it up, Eos is hoping to grow the market for an alternative to lithium-Ion batteries, which continue to dominate the market for long-duration energy storage.
Mastragenlo highlighted some common criticisms of lithium-ion batteries, including that they can't be recycled and often end up incinerated or piled in landfills.
In addition, the price of lithium — though it declined in 2020 — has trended higher due to heavy demand from the likes of Tesla and other electric vehicle makers, which rely on it for batteries.
Zinc, by contrast, is abundant and fully recyclable.
"There's no rare earths [materials]. There's no conflict materials," Mastrangelo said. "It's a sustainable product. It's a product that's fully recyclable at the end of its useful life."
Mastrangelo said the company has a production facility up and running in Pittsburgh that is designed to scale up in line with demand.
"We've designed a process that's quickly scalable and highly capital efficient," he said. "Instead of having to build a massive factory with highly complex processes, we build it out in phases and grow our production capacity as our revenue stream and orders book grows."
The company is targeting $50 million in revenue for 2021, and $260 million for 2022.
Earlier this month, Eos entered a partnership with utility developer Hecate Energy to provide battery technology to projects in Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas.
"We see the market accelerating," Mastrangelo said. "You look at the last three quarters for energy storage, and you've set a record in the United States for installations."
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