Australia battery technology supplier raises $15m

Riverstone Ventures, Chaos Ventures, and Investible also participated. It follows a AUD 3.7m seed round in 2021 featuring Artesian, Riverstone, and Chaos, as well as Bandera Capital and SDGx Ventures.

Sicona develops low-cost, scalable next-generation battery materials used in lithium-ion batteries across the enable electric mobility and renewable energy sectors. Its technology is said to deliver a 50% to 100% higher capacity than conventional graphite anodes as well as more than 50% higher cell energy density than current lithium-ion batteries.

The company claims the materials it uses are cheaper, less supply chain restrained, and less dangerous than the silane gas relied on by many of its competitors. Silane gas is combustible and poisonous.

"Our silicon metal-based technology decouples us from the major bottlenecks and cost implications of silane gas-based technologies and provides our customers the confidence that we can deliver a silicon-carbon anode material at a capital intensity and price which is feasible for mass automotive market adoption,” Sicona CEO Christiaan Jordaan said in a statement.

Sicona is in the early stages of establishing a new factory in the US to serve the local market where it sees rising demand for anode materials. The new capital will support this US buildout. Himadri, which has developed at least nine industrial plans across India and China, is expected to be instrumental in scaling operations.

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• Topics
• Australasia
• Cleantech
• Technology
• Industrials
• Early-stage
• Australia
• Artesian
• Investible
• automobiles
• Electric Vehicles
• energy storage
• renewable energy
• manufacturing