Business Roundup

Group14 Technologies has raised $400 million in series C funding from investors that include Porsche. The company says it will use the funds to build a US plant for its lithium-silicon electric vehicle battery materials.

Ubiquitous Energy, a manufacturer of transparent photovoltaic panels for windows, has formed a partnership with the artificial intelligence software firm Citrine Informatics. Ubiquitous will use Citrine’s AI to accelerate the identification of materials for its solar panels.

Ecovyst, a provider of catalysts and sulfuric acid services formerly known as PQ, has appointed Kurt J. Bitting CEO. He has been with the company and its predecessor firms since 2006.

Solvay is pooling its biobased materials into a single group to speed up its use of renewable resources and biotechnology. Biobased products the company already makes include guar, solvents, and vanillin.

Livent, FMC’s former lithium business, has agreed to double its ownership in Nemaska Lithium to 50%. Nemaska is developing a project in Quebec to make lithium hydroxide for batteries.

Danimer Scientific and Kemira plan to sell a biodegradable, compostable coating for paper food packaging made from the plant-based plastic polyhydroxyalkanoate. The companies started developing the material in 2020 to replace polyethylene and fluorochemicals.

Gilead Sciences will pay $300 million to Dragonfly Therapeutics as part of a deal to develop immunotherapies based on natural killer cell engagers. Gilead will get rights to DF7001, which Dragonfly is developing for cancer.

Tubulis has raised $63 million in series B funding to advance its pipeline of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). The German firm says its technology avoids the toxicity, efficacy, and design constraints of traditional ADCs.