Country Garden's venture capital arm has invested in Chongqing Talent, which is building a 200 MWh automated production line for solid-state lithium batteries in Chongqing.

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After investing in a sodium-ion battery startup, Chinese real estate developer Country Garden has invested in a solid-state battery startup.

Chongqing Talent New Energy Co Ltd recently closed a Series A+ financing round with Country Garden Venture Capital (CGVC) as the exclusive investor, the venture capital arm of the property developer said today.

The financing will be used for production line construction, product development and talent acquisition, according to a press release from CGVC.

Talent, which focuses on the development and industrialization of new solid-state lithium batteries and key lithium battery materials, is currently building a 200 MWh (0.2 GWh) automated solid-state lithium battery production line in Chongqing's Liangjiang New District, with production expected to begin in September 2022, according to the release.

The company has developed a disruptive breakthrough in key performance metrics for solid-state batteries, said its CEO, Li Yan.

"Talent's design concept addresses a number of key challenges in the oxide route, and we expect it to deliver a new and better solution for power batteries soon," said Wei Yi, managing director of CGVC.

This is the second power battery startup Country Garden has invested in this month.

On March 4, sodium-ion battery startup Jiangsu Zoolnasm Energy Technology Co Ltd announced that it had secured a new round of funding with CGVC as the exclusive investor.

The company did not announce the amount of the financing, but said they will be used to expand their R&D and mass production technology teams.

Notably, in addition to these two startups, CGVC previously invested in Svolt Energy, one of China's largest makers of power batteries.

According to data released by the China Automotive Battery Innovation Alliance in January, Svolt has an installed base of 3.22 GWh in 2021, ranking sixth in China with a 2.1 percent market share.

Sodium-ion battery startup Zoolnasm secures investment from property developer Country Garden