“Battery startup Our Next Energy lays off 37 employees, focusing on R&D and cost reduction. 💼 #BatteryIndustry #StartupNews”
Battery startup Our Next Energy Inc. is again trimming headcount following months of struggles.
Crain’s Detroit Business has learned that the Southeast Michigan-based company has cut another 37 jobs — 24 of which were located in Michigan — with the majority of the layoffs being administrative roles, according to a company statement to Crain’s.
ONE’s current focus is around developing products “that will double the range for electric vehicles and double the energy capacity of conventional utility scale energy storage systems,” the company said in the statement.
“In support of this mission, ONE is reinforcing its commitment to its research & development, engineering, supply chain and manufacturing functions,” the statement continues. “To accomplish this, the company is re-aligning resources and reducing overall operating expenses in its non-product related functions. This decision will enable ONE to operate in a more financially efficient manner and support the company’s ongoing efforts to attract additional strategic and financial investors.”
Our Next Energy has approximately 240 employees in Michigan following Monday’s cuts.
The additional cuts at the once-high-flying unicorn startup — ONE raised $300 million in early 2023 at a valuation of $1.2 billion — come after the company laid off around one-quarter of its employees in November as part of a “focus on core priorities.”
Just weeks later, ONE undertook a leadership shakeup, installing board member Paul Humphries — who has a background managing high-growth companies and financial turnarounds — as its new CEO, replacing founder Mujeeb Ijaz, who remained at the company as chief technology officer overseeing product development.
In late January, ONE executives told Crain’s that they had secured enough funding through various investors to have a financial runway through the end of 2024.
“We were clearly strapped for cash,” Humphries told Crain’s at the time. “That’s why we went out and revised the business plan and made it sufficiently attractive for the existing investors to come in and give us a bridge round that gets us ideally to the end of this year, potentially beyond that.”