Bay Area based Energy storage startup Quantumscape which started as a spin-off from Stanford University in 2010 has now raised a huge $100 million from Automobile giant Volkswagen Group to accelerate the development of solid-state battery technology which is very useful for the manufacturing of long range electric vehicles and represents a huge bet by Volkswagen to lead in the automotive solution being worked on currently.

Several major automobile companies including BMW, Hyundai, Toyota, Nissan, Fisker and a host of others have partnered with several companies and heavily invested in the production of solid state battery technology and VW aims to gain a huge edge in the market through this investment which will see the company work with and offer its talent pool for collaboration with Quantumscape on the development of this technology.

Quantumscape was started by serial entrepreneur Jagdeep Singh who was involved in the founding of telecom equipment company Infinera which is currently valued at over $1 Billion on the public stock market, He also founded fiber network company OnFiber which was later acquired by telecom giant Qwest and also bandwidth equipment manufacturer Lightera which indicates a very good record in the entrepreneurial space.

Volkswagen is leveraging this investment to develop better technologies for its Electric Vehicle program to position the company as a leader in the ever growing and hugely competitive market.

Jagdeep Singh, QuantumScape’s CEO issued a statement concerning the investment saying “Volkswagen is the world’s largest automotive manufacturer and leads the industry in its commitment to electrification of its fleet, We are thrilled to be chosen by Volkswagen to power this transition. We think the higher range, faster charge times, and inherent safety of QuantumScape’s solid-state technology will be a key enabler for the next generation of electrified powertrains.”  

Volkswagen now stands as the largest shareholder and partner of the company which currently develops its battery technology service for electronic mobility and vehicle services which is earmarked towards putting this funds towards more research & development for its battery technology service, A technology space where the company holds over around 200 patent and current patent applications in.