Additive-manufacturing ace ChemCubed just keeps adding
Its progress squared at ChemCubed, where two distinct additive-manufacturing solutions are keeping the 3D-printing pioneer in growth mode.
The 2014 startup – which produces “jettable nanocomposites” that can be molded into optical lenses, electronics components and a host of structural materials, all critical to 3D printing – is steaming out of the COVID-19 pandemic on the strength of multiple subcontractor deals, with its sights set on other major-league contracts and funding deals.
ElectroJet, which provides additive-manufacturing solutions exclusively for 3D-printed electronics, is the company’s biggest vertical to date – but NanoCubed, the company’s nano-composite solution for other 3D-printing projects, is also carving a niche, according to co-founder and CEO Dan Slep.
“Electrojet is the biggest,” Slep says. “It’s more commercialized and geared straighter to end-users. The structural materials are more specific, application-dependent and generally made to order.”
But they’re still finding an audience – and together, the verticals have caught the attention of automotive, aerospace and defense manufacturers, with manufacturing deals and federal grants piling up.
ChemCubed has already landed Small Business Innovation Research funding through the U.S. Small Business Administration and is awaiting final word on a National Institute of Standards and Technology grant; it will soon apply for a SBIR Phase II grant, according to Slep, while “sales are slightly increasing.”
“We’ve actually got a couple of subcontractor grants from a group called NextFlex, which is supported by Air Force Research Labs,” the CEO says. “And we got a subcontract through Auburn University, supported by a NextFlex grant, and another through Boeing.”
The Auburn University project centers on a “quality-control loop system” for a next-generation 3D printer, Slep notes, while the Boeing job involves a “flexible hybrid electronics board” – essentially, a multilayer circuit – that’s currently in the design stage, with about 400 boards set to by manufactured inside the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center (AERTC).
Like that multilayer circuit, each of the subcontractor agreements is in a developmental stage. ChemCubed hasn’t cashed in the contracts just yet, Slep says, but the stalwart startup stands ready to deliver – and its bottom line should swell soon.
“Obviously, we haven’t seen that money yet, but it’s coming,” the CEO notes. “We’ll probably be kicking things off in September.
“For sure, things are improving.”
The last eighteen months certainly left room for improvement. Like most enterprises, ChemCubed was dramatically affected by the COVID-19 slowdown – but unlike many other companies, including several additive-manufacturing competitors, the Stony Brook Company has coming roaring out of the pandemic.
In addition to the Auburn and Boeing deals, ChemCubed is in early talks with a biotech company interested in developing an all-new 3D-printing material; it’s also knee-deep in the creation of advanced structural materials for aerospace defense contractors.
Meanwhile, the company has been busy recruiting sales reps “across the nation,” Slep says – all positive steps, and all in some way tied to the additive-manufacturing trailblazer’s relationship with the AERTC.
“Being part of the AERTC has been very helpful,” Slep says. “Along with getting Empire State grants and stuff like that, it’s been critical.
“They’ve introduced me to a lot of people that we’re now working with and collaborating with throughout the New York State area,” he adds. “They continue to be very supportive.”
And the Advanced Energy Center will continue to play a vital role as ChemCubed pursues that SBIR Phase II grant and new business-development opportunities, including a potential deal with an “Air Force stakeholder who’s very interested in our technology” and the creation of what Slep calls “a fully functional manufacturing line.”
“We have just enough room (in the AERTC) for a small footprint of it, at least to start,” the CEO says. “It’s going to grow and eventually wind up someplace else, but right now, I think we’re definitely going to stay local.”