Australia's Sicona buys New Orleans battery firm Advano, backs drones for demand
What's the deal? Australian battery materials startup Sicona has acquired Louisiana-based counterpart Advano, taking over its New Orleans offices, labs, and factory. The undisclosed deal closed earlier this summer but was announced Tuesday. Sicona will make its US headquarters at the site.
What each side brings: Sicona, co-founded in 2019 by Christiaan Jordaan and Andrew Minett, makes silicon-carbon anode materials that improve lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles, drones, data centres, robots, and power tools. Advano, founded in 2016 by Alexander Girau and Shiva Adireddy, developed a way to combine silicon with graphite to boost battery range and charging speed.
Why now? The deal marks a resurrection for Advano, which raised $45 million and secured 23 patents over eight years before running out of money two years ago and nearly dissolving. Early backers included former Apple executive Tony FadellDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and PayPal co-founder Peter ThielDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
The expansion: Sicona plans to invest more than $10 million over five years at the New Orleans East site and create 30 jobs paying an average of over $100,000 a year. It will begin operations at the New Orleans Regional Business Park, across from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility, once furnaces and specialised equipment arrive.
What's the endgame? Sicona wants to make enough material to build millions of battery cells annually in the US. "This acquisition is a major strategic step in our transition into a global lithium-silicon battery platform with a permanent operating base in the United States," Jordaan said.
Jordaan expects a slow start. "We won't be too flashy this side of Christmas, but next year things will pick up, and you'll see our people doing a little bit more," he said.
The signal: Local officials are betting the deal helps lure investment to New Orleans East, anchored by Michoud and a proposed multibillion-dollar Mississippi River port terminal. "This is day one of so much more of growth that's about to come," Mayor Helena Moreno said, framing it as a test of whether the city can retain and scale up homegrown technology.
Read more: theadvocate.com
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
