Alexander Girau

Pragmatic Strategist/Visionary. PhD-drop-out. Founding CEO of two battery material and technology companies based on core technology spun out and licensed (30+ patents) from two R1 research institutions and a major corporation: Tulane University, University of Texas at Austin, and Sharp Corporation Japan. Named Inventor on 17 granted battery, material, and process patents. Raised over $30M in VC. Still looking to leave the world better than I found it. Alexander Girau is a seasoned entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in battery materials, chemical engineering, and technology commercialization. He is currently the CEO and Co-Founder of Group1, where he leads operations, fundraising, and business development, with significant contributions to Intellectual property strategy, material development, and cell development. Before founding Group1, Alexander founded Advano, an advanced material company specializing in nano silicon-based anode materials to enhance the energy density of lithium-ion batteries for consumer electronics, mobility, and stationary storage. The core technology of Advano stemmed from his Ph.D. research at Tulane University, using silicon nanoparticles as non-viral transfection agents for gene therapy. He spun out and pivoted the material technology into the battery field. Alexander grew the team from 1 to over 40 people, closed over $21M in funding, expanded its footprint from a small 2000sqft lab to a 40,000sqft facility, and built an IP portfolio of over 30+ patents. As a named inventor on 17 granted patents across battery materials, processes, and cell design, Alexander has an established reputation as an innovator and thought leader. He was a Visiting Scientist at Tulane University, where he spearheaded collaborations surrounding battery materials and processing technology. He is currently an Energy Transition Fellow at the Energy Institute, UT-Austin. In addition to his work in the battery materials industry, Alexander has provided his expertise as a chemical process engineer to Fortune 50 companies such as Shell Chemical, Exxon, and Valero in the oil and gas sector. In this capacity, he supported the engineering efforts of over $2B in upstream and downstream assets. Alexander matriculated as a Ph.D. candidate at Tulane University and took a leave of absence to commercialize his graduate research. He holds an M.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Tulane University and a B.S. (Honors) in Chemistry and Math/Computational Science from Loyola University. He is also an alumnus of the renowned Silicon Valley startup accelerator YCombinator (S17).