StoreDot has announced the first close of its Series D funding round of up to $80 million led by flagship Vietnamese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer VinFast. Other investors included StoreDot bp ventures, and Golden Energy Global Investment Ltd., a wholly owned company by EVE Energy’s Founder Liu Jincheng. The funds raised by this round will be used to complete StoreDot’s research and development for its silicon-dominant XFC battery cells for electric vehicles and continue its progress on extreme energy density cells based on solid state technology for future deployment. This funding also enables the company to ramp up its California-based research and development (R&D) center and commence scale up operations in key global locations, in readiness for full mass production of cells in 2024.