A battery materials startup just drew a line in the sand against China's near-monopoly on lithium-iron-phosphate production. Electroflow secured $10 million in seed funding to commercialize technology that promises to slash LFP manufacturing costs by 40% compared to Chinese suppliers, potentially reshaping the EV supply chain with a containerized production system that turns salty brine into battery-ready material in just three steps.
The EV industry has a China problem, and Electroflow thinks it has the solution. The startup just closed a $10 million seed round to tackle what CEO Eric McShane calls the "missing ingredient for energy prosperity" - affordable lithium-iron-phosphate battery materials produced outside of China's stranglehold.
"We think LFP is the missing ingredient for energy prosperity. The problem is it's literally 99% made in China," McShane told TechCrunch in an exclusive interview. "If we want to have a chance of competing, we've got to flip that script."
The timing couldn't be more critical. LFP batteries have become the darling of the EV world because they can slash vehicle costs by thousands of dollars compared to traditional lithium-ion chemistries. But tariffs and anti-China regulations have left American automakers scrambling for alternatives to Chinese suppliers who currently dominate global production.
Union Square Ventures led Electroflow's seed round, with Voyager Ventures, Fifty Years, and Harpoon Ventures joining the funding. The investment signals growing confidence in domestic battery supply chain solutions as geopolitical tensions reshape global manufacturing.
Electroflow's breakthrough lies in radical simplification. While traditional LFP production involves roughly ten complex steps from raw materials to finished battery components, the startup's electrochemical process cuts that down to just three. "We looked at the whole process of mining, starting from the rock or the salt water and getting all the way to a lithium chemical. We were like, man, that's like ten steps," McShane explained. "That clearly is not the best way to do it."
The company's technology draws directly from battery science itself - fitting, given both McShane and co-founder Evan Gardner previously researched battery materials. Their key innovation uses electrochemical cells with anodes that absorb lithium ions from salty brines, then release them into carbonate-containing water to produce lithium carbonate ready for LFP manufacturing.