Aussie battery materials developer Sicona raises USD 2.7m

Australian battery materials developer Sicona Battery Technologies Pty Ltd has completed a pre-Series A funding round, raising AUD 3.7 million (USD 2.7m/EUR 2.3m), it said on Thursday.

The company, set up in 2019, is developing battery technology used in the anodes of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries for electric mobility and renewable energy storage. It says its silicon-graphite composite anode materials can result in more than 50% higher cell energy density compared to current Li-ion batteries.

The funding is aimed at supporting pilot manufacturing of the company’s materials and helping to advance their commercialisation.

“Our next milestone is the commissioning of Sicona's pilot production plant at our site in Wollongong and leveraging its larger-scale production capacity to qualify our materials with global battery producers and conduct larger-scale battery testing programmes," said Sicona founder and chief executive Christiaan Jordaan.

The fundraising was led by venture firm Artesian and US-based Riverstone Ventures. Chaos Ventures of New York, Bandera Capital of Australia, SDGx Ventures of Singapore also took part along with several Australian climate-tech investors and global battery materials specialists, according to the announcement.

(AUD 1 = USD 0.735/EUR 0.626)

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