Unnamed university endowments have put funding into Material Impact’s inaugural vehicle, which will incubate materials businesses including spinouts in industries such as energy, transportation and healthcare.
US-based venture capital firm and incubator Material Impact has closed its inaugural material science-focused fund at $110m, raising capital from investors including unnamed university endowments, TechCrunch has reported.
The vehicle’s other limited partners include undisclosed fund-of-funds, foundations and family offices. It will incubate between 12 and 15 companies each year, typically taking an equity stake of 20%, though each shareholding could range from 5% to 50% depending on the scale of its involvement.
Founded in 2015, Material Impact targets material science technologies with potential applications in industries including clean energy, the supply of food and water, transportation, healthcare and industrial productivity.
The firm has agreements in place to access materials research from unspecified universities in locations such as Boston and northern California that aligns with pain points in its targeted markets. It partners universities to create new spinouts and works closely with corporate materials developers.
Material Impact was co-founded by managing partner Carmichael Roberts, who previously led investments in material science, material engineering and chemistry for VC firm North Bridge Venture Partners, and Adam Sharkawy, a former executive at biopharmaceutical developer The Medicines Company and medical equipment maker Smith & Nephew.
Sharkawy told TechCrunch: “If you trace back any quantum leap, whether in electronics or healthcare or aerospace, you can trace back those advancements to material science innovation.
“We all talk about the iPhone, for example. But the reality is that if it was not for advances in underlying electronic materials and sensory reactive glass materials, the iPhone would not have been possible.”
The firm currently has four companies in its portfolio including Harvard University robot technology spinout Soft Robotics, Arizona State University-founded solar panel maker Zero Mass Water and Amastan Technologies, a nanomaterials developer that graduated from University of Connecticut’s Technology Incubation Program.
Material Impact also plans to launch a spinout that will repurpose a material originally designed to be used in the production of feminine hygiene products, building on earlier research and development by an unnamed corporate partner.
