From materials to market: The entrepreneurs behind NanoGraf Corporation reveal how they built an international company around a Northwestern battery technology

It’s always hard to leave a dream job.

But in 2011, Samir Mayekar ’13 KSM ’06 WCAS knew it was the right time to go back to school and take a shot at entrepreneurship. His roles, working at the intersection of national security and energy under the Obama Administration, came to an end and he was eager to make a difference in the clean energy space.

Fast forward to 2019 and a company he founded, NanoGraf Corporation (formerly SiNode Systems), is the maker of an advanced battery material that could turn the lithium-ion battery market – with applications from consumer electronics to electric vehicles – on its head.