NOHMs CEO Nathan Ball speaks at a press conference announcing his company's arrival in Lexington as Commerce Lexington President Bob Quick, Lexington Mayor Jim Gray, UK President Dr. Eli Capliouto and Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear look on.
Lexington, KY – NOHMs Technologies Inc, a company that manufactures lithium sulfur batteries, has moved to Lexington after spending its first three years of existence in Ithaca, New York as an offshoot of science developed at Cornell University.
The company, which currently employs eight, plans to double its staff by the end of the year and its business model calls for 162 employees within a decade, said NOHMs’ CEO Nathan Ball.
According to Ball, the ability to work with Kentucky-Argonne Battery Manufacturing Research and Development Center in addition to state incentives brought the young company away from its home attached to the Ivy League university and to the Bluegrass, where he’s already purchased a house.
“The capabilities that exist here and that are being installed as the center continues to grow are unparalleled in this country outside of a big company or a national lab,” Ball said.
The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority preliminarily approved the company for tax incentives up to $2.1 million through the Kentucky Business Investment program. The performance-based incentive allows a company to keep a portion of its investment over the term of the agreement through corporate income tax credits and wage assessments by meeting job and investment targets.
NOHMs was also a recipient of the Bluegrass Business Development Partnership’s Rent Subsidy Program. The program is designed to recruit tech companies and provide a rent subsidy up to $10,000 the first year in Lexington. The program is available to companies who have received a Small Business Innovation Research matching grant from the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which NOHMs did earlier this year for $500,000.
NOHMs’ product, lithium sulfur batteries, are higher energy and lower-cost than lithium ion batteries, which are commonly found in mobile devices.
Ball said the technology the company is working on will have military, automotive, spacecraft and personal applications.
The Kentucky-Argonne Battery Manufacturing Research and Development Center was established by the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville and the Argonne National Laboratory in 2010. It is housed at the Spindletop Research Complex on the northern edge of Lexington.
Business operations and research for the company will be housed in Lexington, production of the batteries will occur in a Rochester, NY facility.