SkyNano IP and tech assets acquired by AETC, reflecting on a decade of impact in East Tennessee
SkyNano's IP and technology assets are being acquired by long-term partner American Energy Technologies Company (AETC), ensuring that nearly a decade of breakthrough work in carbon technology continues to advance American defense and commercial supply chains.
Co-founder and CEO Anna Douglas built SkyNano from a laboratory beaker experiment into one of Tennessee’s most celebrated hardtech companies, attracting talent and funding from across the country to Knoxville.
As the market shifted for multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), with Chinese prices dropping more than 80% over the last few years, Douglas and her team made a proactive call: find the best possible home for the technology rather than wait for circumstances to decide for them. That home is American Energy Technologies Company (AETC), a trusted collaborator since 2021.
“We believe this is the right next chapter for the technology we’ve spent nearly a decade building,” said Anna.
But for Knoxville, the story is bigger than the IP and technology acquisition.
The Sky Is the Limit
For some, watching SkyNano’s tech move to AETC feels like the end of a chapter here in Knoxville. But in so many ways, it’s just the beginning of one. SkyNano re-wrote the regional narrative around entrepreneurship and innovation. Anna and her team proved that technical companies could build big things, navigate complex systems, and attract serious money to advance technology.
SkyNano is the living proof that programs like Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Innovation Crossroads and the University of Tennessee’s Spark Innovation Center are effective in incubating ideas and turning them into real businesses with proven technologies.
Talented engineers and scientists from across the country moved to Knoxville to work at the company, and many UT interns got their first real taste of entrepreneurship working in SkyNano’s Louisville labs.
Anna has been a mentor, collaborator, and trusted voice for startups across Tennessee, including advocating for the ecosystem on a state, national, and international level.
She proved that the sky is the limit for hardtech founders in Tennessee.
How SkyNano Changed the Narrative in Knoxville
In 2017, Anna left Nashville and paused her Ph.D. program at Vanderbilt to relocate to Knoxville to join the first cohort of Innovation Crossroads at ORNL. Tom Rogers, the program’s inaugural director, said the first year was like “building a plane while flying it,” and that Anna was a perfect fit.
“We just did as much outreach as we possibly could to find pioneers, and that’s really what Anna is to me in this space. She was one of the original four pioneers,” he said.
Rogers acknowledged that all four of the inaugural companies were strong champions for the program; however, Anna quickly stood out to him as a unique connector of people and ideas.
“Some of her greatest contributions have been sharing her experiences, being the voice and face of Innovation Crossroads, and advocating for East Tennessee to be better,” he said.
Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon tells a story about knocking on Anna’s door during a campaign. When she asked what the city could do better, Anna didn’t hesitate.
“Wet labs… the city needs more wet labs,” Anna had said. That’s just one example of how she always took the initiative to vocalize and advocate for innovators’ needs.
Anna graduated from Innovation Crossroads and became one of the first companies – alongside Eonix– to move into the Spark Incubator at the UT Research Park, and eventually became the first to open a commercial lab.
Rogers said a portion of the funding allocated by the city and state toward innovation and entrepreneurial programs has largely been due to success stories, like SkyNano, charting the path for others to follow in step.
“Today, there’s really a robust community of hardtech entrepreneurs in this town who help each other, and I think Anna setting the precedent made a real difference in that culture,” Rogers said.
A Voice for Tennessee Founders
Beyond the Smoky Mountains, the ripple effect of Anna’s advocacy was present on the Hill in Nashville, Washington, D.C., and beyond.
Lindsey Cox, the CEO of Launch Tennessee, said Anna never missed a mark when it came to advocating for additional funding for founders.
“I can sit in a room and tell state or federal lawmakers why these dollars are important. I can throw out numbers and metrics, but until you hear from someone like Anna, who leveraged Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants to scale her technology and team, you can’t really understand how life-changing this mission is,” Lindsey said.
Anna scaled the tech from a laboratory beaker to a 20,000 square foot facility. She hired a team from across the nation. She secured millions of dollars’ worth of competitive state and federal grants and contracts, without giving up equity in her company.
“Anna represents so much. She’s so dynamic. She’s a technical founder who pushed her industry forward, a CEO, a wife, a mother, an advocate for Knoxville, and an integral part of the community,” Lindsey said.
A Trusted Hand-Off for SkyNano
SkyNano’s plans to wind down operations by the end of 2026 come in the form of an acquisition by AETC, which has been a partner to SkyNano since 2021.
Most recently, in 2025, AETC worked with SkyNano and Eonix on a high-profile U.S. Air Force project, which generated fully viable CO2-derived domestic synthetic graphite for use in lithium-ion battery anodes.
“We’re grateful to know our work is passing into the hands of an organization we trust deeply,” Anna said. “That trust was built over years of working side by side, and it makes this transition one we feel good about.”
As for SkyNano’s leased space in Louisville, it is currently being transformed into the new manufacturing facility for Endeavor Composites. The founder, Hicham Ghossein, is also an Innovation Crossroads alumnus.
Still in the Game
Anna has committed to remaining involved in the Tennessee entrepreneurial ecosystem. That news was a breath of fresh air to technical founders across the state, and particularly those who graduated from the Innovation Crossroads program. Ghossein is one of those thankful founders.
“I’m glad that Anna will still be involved in the community, because her expertise adds a lot to the ecosystem and the entrepreneurship spirit. She proved that the right collaboration with the government can yield a lot of growth,” he said.
But one of the most notable compliments on Anna’s navigation of the ecosystem over the last decade is her spirit of collaboration rather than competition. Throughout SkyNano’s history, they led projects including Eonix, Endeavor Composites, and multiple labs across UT to bring in more funding for innovation across the region.
“Her contributions, in that respect, have really made all the difference,” Rogers added.
Even though the business chapter for SkyNano is turning a page, the foundation Anna built is a resounding expression of a new story emerging in East Tennessee: Anna and SkyNano played a huge role in transforming this ecosystem into a place uniquely suited to support the growth of innovative technology companies.
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