Press Release | Boston Materials Closes $8 Million Series A Funding to Unlock High-Performance and Sustainable Carbon Fiber as America Invests in Green Infrastructure
BOSTON, May 20, 2021 / — Boston Materials, the manufacturer of advanced lightweight materials that deliver increased performance and circular solutions using Z-axis Carbon Fiber technology, announced today the closing of an $8 million financing led by AccelR8 and Valo Ventures. Clean Energy Ventures, a previous backer, also participated in the round.
The funding accelerates the expansion of the company’s Z-Axis Carbon Fiber technology into new electric vehicles, aerospace, and consumer electronics that are higher performing, lighter, and environmentally sustainable.
“There’s a massive environmental problem from the nearly three billion dollars’ worth of new carbon fiber scrap generated every year by the global supply chain – not to mention the end-of-life scrap from large structures like airplanes and wind turbine blades,” said Anvesh Gurijala, CEO and co-founder of Boston Materials. “Our Z-Axis Carbon Fiber technology provides a high-performance outlet for the growing amount of available reclaimed carbon fiber, creating a new economic opportunity in the composites and lightweight materials industries.”
Boston Materials uses a patented roll-to-roll magnetic alignment process that orients reclaimed carbon fibers vertically to manufacture composite film and sheet products, called ZRT. This breakthrough process introduces new z-axis thermal and electrical conductivity, stiffness, and durability benefits to existing composite materials. Ultimately, the company’s ZRT products provide designers and manufacturers with multiple benefits over metals and nanomaterials, including lighter weight, lower embodied carbon footprint, and lower production costs.
“Boston Materials is doing something others simply can’t. They’re improving the quality of advanced lightweight materials with a truly scalable Z-axis Carbon Fiber technology that uses 100 percent reclaimed feedstocks,” said Dwight Poler, CEO of AccelR8. “Boston Materials is one of the only solutions we’ve seen that can integrate sustainable materials and actually improve both the performance and breadth of application simultaneously.”
Earlier in 2021, Boston Materials commissioned a 60-inch-wide commercial production line capable of producing 800,000 square meters of Z-axis Carbon Fiber materials per year. The company plans to triple the production capacity over the next two years. The production capacity has been installed in a 37,000 square foot manufacturing facility located in Billerica, MA, along with fully-automated equipment for quality control and traceability. Boston Materials is dedicated to expanding its manufacturing operations in the Boston area by cultivating a robust team of manufacturing personnel from across all industries and training them as technicians for the production of advanced composite materials.
“Boston Materials creates a clear ROI for customers by delivering products with superior performance at a lower cost. The team has thoughtfully designed their products to augment existing supply chains, helping pave the way for their Z-axis Carbon Fiber to become a breakthrough metal replacement in the next generation of high-volume consumer and industrial products,” said Subodh Gupta, Principal at Valo Ventures. “At the same time, Boston Materials’ products deliver a strong return for the environment by reducing the reliance on virgin materials, advancing the circular economy and continuing the proliferation of composites to decarbonize industries.”
Boston Materials is also ramping up hiring across technical sales, application development, and manufacturing to support the company’s rapid growth.
To explore opportunities with Boston Materials, visit: https://bostonmaterials.co/
About Boston Materials
Boston Materials manufactures Z-axis Carbon Fiber products that can revolutionize the $130B+ lightweight materials market and unlock significant GHG emissions reductions across industries. Boston Materials products add new conductivity, stiffness, and durability benefits to existing composite materials, like carbon fiber, and sheet metals. The company’s products are made using 100 percent reclaimed carbon fiber enabling up to 80 percent GHG emissions savings compared to standard composite materials and metals. Learn more at www.bostonmaterials.co/
About AccelR8
AccelR8 invests behind exceptional founders who bring innovative technologies and business models to accelerate the reduction and sequestration of greenhouse gases. AccelR8 brings together deep science and investment experience to support approaches that create reinforcing loops toward exponential change, while achieving both social impact and financial returns. AccelR8 reinvests its fund profits into further social impact ventures and research. For more information go to www.accelr8.com
About Valo Ventures
Valo Ventures is a thesis-driven venture capital firm investing in North America and Europe. Our mission is “investing for a brighter future” and we do this by focusing on four catalyzing megatrends: climate change, circular economy, autonomy and empowered people. We identify and support entrepreneurs who are applying digital technologies to create long term economic, environmental and social value. Learn more at www.valoventures.org.