CelLink, a San Carlos, CA-based automotive electronics technology company, today announces the completion of a $250M Series D round of financing. The round was led by new investor Whale Rock Capital and further includes new investors D1 Capital Partners, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, Park West, Standard Investments, and Atreides, as well as participation from existing investors 3M Ventures, BMW iVentures, Fontinalis Partners, Franklin Templeton, Lear Corporation, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, and Tinicum Venture Partners. In addition, Citi acted as an exclusive financial advisor to CelLink in the financing. The new funding will support significant expansion to meet exploding customer demand across CelLink’s core automotive application areas – lightweight, space-efficient, and automation-compatible flex harnessing for battery packs and general power and data transfer within vehicle zones and submodules.
“CelLink was originally founded with the goal of developing a new type of interconnect for solar panels. To see this core technology evolve into an entirely new product class that is accelerating the transition away from fossil fuel-based transportation, with amazing customers buying our products and world-class investors supporting our growth, is a dream come true,” said Kevin Coakley, co-founder and CEO of CelLink. “We are particularly excited about the deep convictions that our new investors have about the future of the automotive industry. These investors share in our belief that the traditional wire harness industry needs to be disrupted in order for the transition to electric vehicles to fully occur.”
In automotive mass production since 2019, CelLink products are already on the road in hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles today. This latest round of funding enables a massive expansion to meet rapidly-growing customer demand, including the construction of a new 300,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility in Georgetown, Texas, set to open in mid-2022. CelLink is also further expanding its team of engineers and technology experts at both its San Carlos, CA HQ and Novi, MI sales and engineering facility, as well as establishing a European-based team to service a growing list of international customers.
With the ability to combine multiple legacy product functionalities into a single flex harness, CelLink products reduce traditional wire harness weight by more than 70% and spatial volume by more than 90%. Pre-integration of flex harnesses with other vehicle electronics such as electronic control units (ECUs), sensors, and modules allows for more modular and automated vehicle assembly. And with zero design-specific tooling, instantaneous and virtually capital-free design changes become a reality for just-in-time manufacturing, reducing design revision cycles from months to a matter of days.
Today, CelLink’s unique, high-power, large-area flex harness technology is reshaping automotive electrical architectures while simultaneously lowering the cost and weight of vehicles. Tomorrow, CelLink’s technology will grow beyond passenger automotive, solving similar challenges in commercial vehicles, aerospace, off-highway, agriculture, military vehicles, marine, industrial applications and more.
“With electric vehicles becoming standard over the next decade, we are excited about CelLink’s unique flexible harness technology and fast-paced, innovative culture,” said Nic Galat, semiconductor and clean tech investor at Whale Rock Capital. “We are thrilled to support CelLink in their journey towards becoming a premier next-gen automotive supplier.”
About CelLink
CelLink Corporation, founded in 2012 by Kevin Coakley (CEO) and Malcolm Brown (VP Engineering), manufactures the world’s largest and most electrically and thermally conductive flexible circuits. Our team of skilled engineers, manufacturing experts, and automotive industry professionals are fundamentally redefining automotive electrical distribution systems to make vehicles lighter, less expensive, and cleaner – both in their manufacturing and daily use. The company has raised approximately $315M in funding to date through a combination of private investment and multiple grants from the US Department of Energy. CelLink’s investors include 3M Ventures, Atreides, BMW, BorgWarner, Bosch, D1 Capital Partners, Fidelity, Fontinalis Partners, Ford, Franklin Templeton, Lear, Park West, SK Telecom, Standard Investments, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., Tinicum Venture Partners, and Whale Rock Capital.
About Whale Rock Capital
Founded in 2006, Whale Rock Capital Management LLC is a Boston-based asset manager focused on public and private investments in global technology.
