Foundry for Founders

I spoke with a European founder developing his own battery cells.

Just getting permits for the mixing and coating stages pushed his project back by three years.

Those two stages alone would make up over 60% of total capex.

That’s why building dedicated electrode toll-manufacturing foundries for scaleups makes so much sense — they can shortcut years of permitting and tens of millions in investment.

At higher volumes, though, around 5–8 GWh, it flips. The economics start favouring in-house manufacturing.

The next wave of collaboration will likely emerge between those two extremes — shared infrastructure for early-stage scaleups, a foundry for founders, and independence for mature ones.