SPARC TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED — Capital/Financing Update 2023

Oct 29, 2023

30 October 2023

Sodium Ion Battery Materials Project Receives Australian Government Grant

HIGHLIGHTS

• QUT and Sparc Technologies awarded A$384,271 under AEA grant program

• Funds will be used to accelerate full battery cell testwork and scale up of processing equipment for the development of sustainable sodium ion battery anode materials

• Sparc’s second successful project application under the A$10m AEA Seed round

Sparc Technologies Limited (ASX: SPN) (Sparc, Sparc Technologies or the Company) is pleased to advise that the Queensland University of Technology ( QUT ) has been awarded funding under Australia’s Economic Accelerator ( AEA ) grant program to be applied towards QUT’s sodium ion battery ( SIB ) materials project with Sparc.

The A$384,271 funding awarded to QUT under the AEA Seed round will be used to continue and accelerate laboratory testing of bio-waste derived hard carbon anode materials for SIBs produced using a faster, less energy intensive processing method. QUT and Sparc’s funding application was selected from a large number of proposals received in Tranche 2 of the AEA Seed round, reflecting the highly competitive nature of the round and strength of the project application. The cash grant will support the project for 12 months and comes with a financial and in-kind commitment from Sparc which is within budget and will be funded from existing cash resources.

Sparc Technologies Executive Chairman, Mr. Stephen Hunt commented:

"We are very pleased with the award of grant funding for QUT and Sparc’s sodium ion battery materials project. This is Sparc’s second successful grant application from the highly competitive AEA Seed round which is testament to the strength of our projects and our collaborations with leading Australian universities.

This funding will enable the research team to accelerate workstreams in relation to the testing of full sodiumion cells and the scale up of processing equipment in the lab, generating data which will be used to advance discussions with industry players and potential customers, that are developing an alternative to lithium-ion batteries."

The AEA program will initially run over ten years from 2023 to 2032, supported by a A$1.6bn investment from the Australian Government in the research commercialisation ecosystem. The program is part of the Australian Government’s University Research Commercialisation Action Plan, and forms part of its efforts to supercharge commercialisation of Australia’s world leading research in the university sector.

Proposals for Tranche 2 of the AEA Seed round, in which QUT was an applicant for this SIB project, closed in May 2023 for research projects with technology readiness levels (TRLs) of 3 - 5. The maximum amount of funding available was A$500,000 per applicant, within total awarded funding of ~A$5.5m for Tranche 2.

This grant represents Sparc’s second successful AEA grant, following the Sparc Hydrogen AEA grant for $470,511 announced on the 19[th] of October 2023 (ASX Announcement 19 October 2023).

Project Update

Sparc Technologies provided an update on the project during September (ASX Announcement 29 September 2023). Since then, work has progressed on a techno-economic analysis to demonstrate the potential competitive advantages of the processing method and validation testwork at an external laboratory is ongoing. Sparc recently purchased a report from a reputable market research provider, IDTechEx Ltd, which forecasts the SIB market to be valued at >US$11.6 billion in 2033.

-ENDS-

Authorised for release by: Stephen Hunt, Executive Chairman.

For more information please visit: sparctechnologies.com.au

Contacts:

Stephen Hunt Mark Flynn Executive Chairman Investor Relations +61 402 956 205 +61 416 068 733 Stephen.hunt@sparctechnologies.com.au mark.flynn@sparctechnologies.com.au

About Sparc Technologies

==> picture [388 x 251] intentionally omitted <==

Sparc Technologies Limited (‘Sparc’, ASX: SPN) is an Australian company pioneering new technologies to disrupt and transform industry while seeking to deliver a more sustainable world. Sparc has established offices in Australia, Europe and North America and is focused on three core areas of technology development.

1. Sparc has spent over 4 years developing a graphene based additive product, ecosparc[®] , which has demonstrated up to 40% anti-corrosion improvement in commercially available epoxy coatings. Sparc recently commissioned a manufacturing facility to produce ecosparc[®] and is engaging with global paint companies and end users to advance commercial scale trials.

2. Sparc is a majority shareholder of Sparc Hydrogen which is a company pioneering the development of photocatalytic water splitting (‘PWS’) green hydrogen production technology. PWS is an alternative to producing green hydrogen via electrolysis, using only sunlight, water and a photocatalyst. Given lower infrastructure requirements and energy use, the process has the potential to deliver a cost and flexibility advantage over electrolysis.

3. Sparc is also developing sodium ion battery technology in partnership with Queensland University of Technology.