Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | September 18, 2023 | Worcester Business Journal 5 Westborough firm raises more than $1B in for Kentucky factory Ascend Elements, a Westbor- ough-based manufacturer of battery materials, raised more than $1 billion in financing and grants in the past year to build a one-million square-foot factory in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Of the funding, $542 million comes from equity investments. Ascend Elements' Series D round of funding was led by Singapore-based, govern- ment-owned investment firm Temasek, Decarbonization Partners, a joint ven- ture between asset-management giant BlackRock and Temasek, and Qatar Investment Authority. e U.S. Department of Energy granted Ascend Elements grants worth $480 million as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in October. Ascend Elements began construc- tion in 2022 on North America's first sustainable cathode precursor (pCAM) and cathode active material (CAM) manufacturing facility on a 140-acre site in Kentucky. e facility will produce enough sustainable pCAM for 750,000 electric vehicles per year. Worcester chamber launches news organization e Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce has launched a nonprofit digital news organization called the Worcester Guardian. e Guardian is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with an independent board of directors, according to a Sept. 12 press release. It will be funded through donations, grants, sponsorships, and underwriting rather than depending on traditional newspaper advertising, according to the Worcester Guardian's website. Former Telegram & Gazette Executive Editor David Nordman is being brought on board as a consultant to the organization. Nordman le the paper in May 2022 for a position at Northeastern University in Boston. "e chamber will lead the facili- tation over the next 18 to 24 months in establishing an independent and sustainable nonprofit news organiza- tion," chamber Board Chair Christine Cassidy said in the press release. B R I E F S T H E T I C K E R 280 Nurses at Framingham Union Hospital, who may become part of the Massachusetts Nurses Association labor union, after a group of nurses sought to unionize the hospital Source: Massachusetts Nurses Association $4.4 million Purchase price of two Dunkin' locations in Paxton and Rutland paid by Robert Branca, who owns more than 700 Dunkin' franchises in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York Source: Worcester District Registry of Deeds 85,269 sq. ft. Expansion of the KARL STORZ Endoscopy-America's medical technology facility in Auburn, in a new 10-year lease signed by the California company Source: Kelleher & Sadowsky Associates 7.5% Vacancy rate of the 2.2 million square feet of life sciences real estate in Worcester County, compared to 3.7% in Suffolk County and 6.2% in Middlesex County Source: MassBio W

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