VW partner QuantumScape hits the US stock market
The solid-state battery specialist and Volkswagen partner QuantumScape went public on the US stock exchange. The company has agreed on a merger with the investment company Kensington Capital Acquisition. The shares will be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “QS”.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year. QuantumScape has reported that the merger is expected to result in over $700 million in revenues. Volkswagen already announced in June that it would invest up to a further $200 million in the US battery specialist. The Wolfsburg-based company hopes that the collaboration will help it to make progress in the development of solid-state batteries and their subsequent large-scale production. The successes achieved so far in the various stages of the project make the partners on both sides of the Atlantic obviously optimistic. After all, in order to prepare for the mass production of solid-state batteries for Volkswagen, the duo has now also presented plans to set up a joint venture.
Volkswagen had already invested 100 million dollars in QuantumScape in 2018 and has since become the battery specialist’s largest automotive shareholder, which is a spin-off of Stanford University. The total investment of 300 million dollars corresponds to a value of 265 million euros at current exchange rates. The two companies have been working together since 2012. Before the investment in 2018, VW already held five per cent of QuantumScape. Since then, there has been no precise information on how many shares the Wolfsburgers hold – only the now repeated claim to be the largest automotive shareholder.
QuantumScape expects that the proceeds from the now announced transaction will keep the company afloat until series production begins. “The merger with Kensington and associated PIPE transaction allows us to fund our business plans to first production,” said company president Jagdeep Singh. “We look forward to executing on continued product development and validation through to first revenue and what we believe will be significant growth thereafter.” Founded in 2010, the Californian company currently employs over 200 scientists and engineers. The team also includes JB Straubel, known as former CTO at Tesla.
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