From Reddit
Thanks for creating this community u/Coffee_Fuelled, I found Ilika about two months ago, did some research and plunged in with my money!
I think Ilika is a hidden gem and want to share some of my DD here :)
Some highlights from Ilika's history:
May 2004: Spins out from the School of Chemistry at the University of Southampton.• ?Feb 2008: Partners with Toyota to explore alternative automotive battery materials; has some joint IP in multiple countries. Both companies are free to use the IP independently.• ?May 2010: IPO on LSE AIM• ?Somewhere in 2010: Abandons automotive battery sector and shifts focus to IoT with micro batteries (Stereax series)• ?....• ?Does a bunch of things over the years with product launches and improvements of the Stereax series (no mass production)• ?....• ?Jun 2018: Restarts exploring automotive battery with experience gained from prior years, using same chemical compounds but a different manufacturing technology (Goliath series). This is mostly funded by UK's Faraday battery challenge and they partner up with some notable companies: Honda, Ricardo and McLaren.• ?Apr 2019: Launches Stereax M50 which I think is pretty impressive, especially the C-rate and cell size. However, the energy density is below 200 Wh/L (Li-ion battery is 250+ Wh/L).• ?Sep 2019: They get a new partner for Goliath: Jaguar Land Rover. Also, they open their Pre-Pilot manufacturing line.• ?Nov 2020: Finalizing a lease for Stereax manufacturing scale-up. They plan a 70x increase in production capacity by the end of the 2021; from 50 to 3500 wafers/yr.• ?Feb 2021: Completed lease of the new Stereax manufacturing facility with progress on track.
Present times:
They plan to be cash flow positive by 2022-2023.• ?They currently sell Stereax M250 from their pilot line and are in the final stages of development of M50/M300 which will be ready for evaluation Summer 2021.• ?They are soon to release performance figures for their single cell Goliath pouches. They have gone from exponential improvements in the early days to linear improvements right now.• ?They plan to scale up Goliath by beginning of 2024 with a public funded manufacturing facility and plan to support volumes for some consumer electronics and perhaps 1-2 McLaren car models at that scale.
competition:
?I don't think they have much competition in the Stereax segment, however, industry needs to catch up and I believe the potential is huge. Cymbet seems to be the only one here, however, they seem to have stalled with innovation since 2013.• ?The biggest and loudest competitor for Goliath is QuantumScape in the automotive segment. Based on what I've gathered so far, QS is burning a LOT of money for scaling up manufacturing and hiring and they aren't much far off from Ilika with the progress. We'll know for certain when Ilika releases their performance figures for Goliath.• ?Solid Power is another famous Goliath competitor, however, they use a Sulfide-based electrolyte which has a lower volumetric density.
Overall thoughts:
I think Ilika is a company with great potential, especially Goliath for the EV sector. However, I feel they are a bit conservative in the development process and could be left behind as competition for EV batteries has gotten intense in recent times. Having said that, I believe this is a safe investment if we assume Stereax becomes the only commercial success for them. What are your thoughts?
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