STOCKHOLM, March 5 (Reuters) - Swedish battery tech firm

HolyVolt has bought U.S.-based R&D company Wildcat Discovery

Technologies for $73 million, the companies said on Thursday, as

part of its efforts to help Western battery makers scale up to

mass production.

The deal comes amid rising tariffs and geopolitical tensions

that are pushing Europe and the U.S. to reduce reliance on China

for battery materials. It also comes a day after new European

Commission proposals aimed at strengthening domestic

manufacturing and securing regional supply chains.

* Wildcat CEO Mark Gresser said he has seen strong interest

from potential investors and strategic partners who are "really

desperate to change the situation with regard to supply from

China"

* Some battery projects have struggled to scale up from the

lab to large-volume manufacturing, including bankrupt Swedish

battery maker Northvolt

* Wildcat's platform runs thousands of parallel battery

experiments at pilot scale for anode, cathode and electrolyte

development for global manufacturers

* Deal combines Wildcat's technology with HolyVolt's

solvent-free screen-printing process to spot scale-up issues

earlier

* HolyVolt's CEO and founder Mathias Ingvarsson told Reuters

the acquisition broadened its U.S investor reach, adding to

existing Swedish backers including truckmaker Volvo Group

and Wallenberg's FAM

* Transaction structured as cash, equity and deferred

milestones payment, with Wildcat becoming a wholly-owned

subsidiary. No further details were provided