There’s a good chance you know about Holyvolt if you constantly keep pace with everything happening around the world of artificial intelligence. Of course, some are only coming across this word for the first time here.
Holyvolt is a Stockholm-based battery-materials startup. The company has just raised $45 million in an early-stage equity round to develop battery chemistries that China doesn’t control. Fifth Wall, Zone II, CC.VC, and several angel investors from the defense and finance industries backed the round, which values the company at $245 million.
Holyvolt’s Discovery Engine is designed to connect proprietary AI models to automated labs that build and test real battery cells. What this means is that each round of results will always improve the next prediction.
You might be wondering what makes it a remarkable discovery in the world of Artificial Intelligence. Well, it is built on a high-throughput platform developed by Wildcat Discovery Technologies. You should remember that Holyvolt merged with this company in 2026.
According to the IEA, growth in EV sales is pushing up demand for batteries, continuing the upward trend of recent years. Demand for EV batteries reached more than 750 GWh in 2023, up 40% relative to 2022, though the annual growth rate slowed slightly compared to in 2021‑2022.
Anthropic’s experiments suggest that small AI models may be months away from being capable enough to self-replicate on commercial internet-of-things (IoT) devices, like smart ovens and off-brand Android TV boxes.
It is possible that the company will match this replication capability level by the end of 2026. But this is only bound to happen is small models improve at their historical rate. The researchers warn that small-weight replicators might be possible sooner than we think.
China seems to be miles ahead when it comes to the EV battery supply Chain. The country accounted for 70% of electric car production and more than 80% of battery cell production in 2025, according to the IEA.
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The leadership team at Holyvolt certainly brings together the experience of scaling companies and battery materials. And it is important to mention that the company accelerates material discovery. This is made possible by combining AI and high-throughput experimentation into a discovery engine.
Holyvolt’s CEO Mathias Ingvarsson explained that China has spent decades building and consolidating a battery supply chain that the West can’t simply replicate with the current battery materials.
“We can’t beat them at their own game,” he says. “The opportunity for the US and Europe is to use AI to discover new battery chemistries and develop more efficient, scalable manufacturing methods that can reduce our dependence on China’s existing supply chains.”
“We can’t out-China China,” said Steven Prast, COO of Holyvolt. “Recreating China’s existing battery industry here isn’t the answer. We have to invent better materials and processes and make them in the West. DRX proves what the Discovery Engine can do, and it’s only the beginning.”
Either way, the future seems to be looking brighter with each passing day and the company might just change things.
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