Australian battery tech company Sicona Battery Technologies has made its first acquisition, acquiring New Orleans battery technology company Advano.
The deal gives Sicona an immediate US operating base, including a pilot manufacturing plant, research and development laboratories, and cell-testing equipment directly across the street from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility and at the Center for Energy Resource Management (CERM) in New Orleans.
It also consolidates Advano’s silicon anode patent portfolio, taking Sicona’s total patents record to 151 across 46 patent families, which solidifies Sicona’s position as one of the leading IP holders in the field of mechanical silicon anode materials.
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Founded in 2016, Advano developed a silicon-based anode material designed to increase lithium-ion battery energy density and reduce cost per kilowatt hour, and has raised approximately US$46 million to date.
Sicona will install its own SiCx silicon-carbon anode production process at the plant and has plans to support Advano’s existing US customers, while also expanding the operation into a ‘Super Pilot’ facility able to make enough material for over 3 million battery cells.
The planned facility will target a wide variety of applications including AI data centre battery backup systems, robotics, power tools, autonomous systems, drones, electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, defence, and more.
Nanyang Technological University Professor Y. Shirley Meng will also join Sicona as its scientific advisor.
The deal also comes as two US laws shift the economics of battery production towards American plants. From October 2027, one law prevents procurement of batteries produced by certain Chinese battery manufacturers, while another already pays companies 10% of battery anode material production costs, if made within the United States.
Sicona will produce anode material inside the United States before the 2027 restrictions take effect, which lets an Australian company compete for American contracts on price and origin, according to founder and CEO Christiaan Jordaan.
Sicona Battery Technologies founder and CEO Christiaan Jordaan said, “This acquisition is a major strategic step in Sicona’s transition from an Australian battery-materials company into a global lithium-silicon battery platform with a permanent operating base in the United States.
“Advano and the New Orleans technology community have built an important foundation, and we intend to build on that work as we grow our US operations.
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“We are proud to become part of the Louisiana business community, and we see New Orleans as the right place to build a long-term advanced-manufacturing presence, supported by an experienced industrial workforce and a strong research and engineering base.”
The project has been selected for US congressional appropriations funding, subject to completion of the applicable government processes.
