Australia-based energy startup Sicona Batteries raises AU$22 million

Sydney, 14 June 2023. The AU$22 million in Series A capital raised by Sicona Battery Technologies (“Sicona”), will be utilised to advance the company’s development objectives in both Australia and the US.

Leading Australian venture capitalist Artesian, India’s Himadri Speciality Chemical Ltd, and the Waratah Capital-managed Electrification & Decarbonization AIE LP fund jointly led the USD 22 million investment. The fundraising round included participation from Riverstone Ventures, Chaos Ventures, Investible Climate Tech Fund LP, and Club Investible.

Sicona creates scalable, affordable next-generation lithium-ion (“Li-ion”) battery materials that support electric transportation and renewable energy storage.

In comparison to traditional graphite anodes, Sicona’s current generation silicon-composite anode technology offers a stunning 50–100% higher capacity, and its anode materials can produce more than 50% higher cell energy density than present-day Li-ion batteries. 

The firm is moving on with engineering studies, site selection, and client qualification for a 20ktpa (about 200 GWh) silicon-carbon production plant, starting with 5kpta (about 50 GWh) in phase 1. The company’s headquarters and pilot plant are located in Wollongong, which is south of Sydney. This industrial-scale facility will be constructed in the southeast of the US to offer materials that are Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) compliant to customers in the US market. In the US, where the demand for anode materials is anticipated to increase over 2023–24, the money raised in this round will provide significant expansion potential.

Sicona CEO and cofounder Christiaan Jordaan described the company’s primary offering as “an innovative silicon metal based silicon-composite battery anode technology enabling more than 50% increase in energy density of existing Li-ion batteries.”

“Sicona can provide low-cost silicon anode materials at large vehicle scale locally in key markets by using silicon metal (rather than expensive, supply chain limited, and hazardous silane gas like our competitors.

We are able to move forward with our mission of becoming a significant manufacturer of reasonably priced silicon composite anode materials thanks to the strategic investment of one of the top international specialty chemical firms in our Series A round. Himadri has a long history of producing materials at a large scale, and their knowledge and contributions will be invaluable to us in the coming years.

“Our silicon metal-based technology decouples us from the key cost and bottleneck implications of silane gas-based technologies and gives our customers the confidence that we can deliver a silicon-carbon anode material at a capital intensity and $/kg price which is feasible for mass-automotive market adoption,” the company claims.

Anurag Choudhary, chairman and managing director of Himadri Speciality Chemical Ltd, stated that Sicona was a “strategic fit” for his company while announcing their investment to the National Stock Exchange of India.

“It gives us great pleasure to invest in Sicona. Our strategic goals are well complemented by Sicona’s innovative research and highly scalable, affordable manufacturing process for silicon anodes, according to Mr. Choudhary.

We try our best to fact-check and bring well-researched as well as non-plagiarized content to you. Please let us know

-if there are any discrepancies in any of our published stories,

-how we can improve,

-what stories you would like us to cover and what information you are looking for, in the comments section below or through our contact form! We look forward to your feedback, and thank you for stopping by! 

Next Article