Alexander L. Girau, M.S.
Alexander Girau is Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Group1, where he leads the development and commercialization of the company's potassium-ion battery platform. He serves as Principal Investigator for Group1's $1.24 million NSF SBIR Phase II program, advancing high-power potassium-ion technology toward deployment in AI data-center power infrastructure, critical infrastructure, and national security. Girau is also an Energy Transition Fellow at The University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute, contributing an industry and commercialization perspective that helps connect emerging energy innovation with practical deployment across the public and private sectors.
A two-time deep-tech founder, Girau has built his career around identifying underdeveloped scientific platforms and redirecting them toward high-value industrial applications. He first repurposed his graduate research on surface-functionalized silicon nanoparticles, originally developed for non-viral transfection, into silicon-anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. He later recognized potassium-ion batteries as a similarly under-explored technology platform with significant commercial potential, leading him to co-found Group1 before the chemistry had attracted broad industry attention. His core competencies span technology commercialization, intellectual-property portfolio development, data and informatics architecture, and the design of AI-native scientific and organizational workflows.
Girau earned a B.S. with honors in Chemistry and Mathematics from Loyola University New Orleans before pursuing doctoral research in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Tulane University, where he earned an M.S. He subsequently worked as a chemical process engineer and consultant in the energy industry, contributing to the design of more than $2 billion of large-scale energy infrastructure. He later returned to Tulane as a Visiting Fellow in Materials Physics and Engineering while forming Advano around the commercial application of his graduate research.
Girau led Advano through Y Combinator’s S17 program, growing it from concept to ton-scale production and a team of more than 30. Advano was acquired in 2026, with Girau serving as Special Advisor to the company’s interim CEO during the acquisition process. Across his career, he has been named an inventor on 16 granted patents spanning advanced battery materials, electrode-electrolyte interfaces, battery technology, and advanced-materials processing; developed intellectual-property portfolios spanning more than 30 patents and applications; and raised more than $40 million in venture, strategic, and non-dilutive capital.
Girau is now focused on building the domestic industrial base for potassium-ion batteries, advancing a lithium-free platform for high-power applications where safety, supply-chain resilience, and reliability are mission-critical.