DexMat, a Houston-based climate tech startup, has closed $3 million in a seed funding round led by Dutch VC Shell Ventures (also backed Aurora Hydrogen), the corporate venture capital arm of Shell.
Other participating investors include Overture Ventures, Climate Avengers, and several individuals.
Appoints new CEO
Besides the funding round, DexMat welcomes Bryan Guido Hassin — previously a member of DexMat’s board of directors — as its new CEO.
Hassin has led multiple climate-tech startups through rapid growth, most recently co-founding Third Derivative and leading it to become the world’s largest climate-tech innovation ecosystem.
“Before joining DexMat, as CEO of Third Derivative, I was introduced to easily over 2,000 innovative new concepts and technologies. DexMat’s solution was one of the most impactful I came across, which is precisely why I’m so excited to be joining the team,” said Hassin. “The opportunity to eventually cut up to 3 gigatons of CO2 annually in one of the most underserved markets of the clean energy transition — heavy industry — was too important for me to pass by.”
DexMat’s previous CEO, Dmitri Tsentalovich, Ph.D., steps into the role of CTO, where his deep background in engineering, carbon, manufacturing, and product development will inform the company’s ongoing technology evolution.
Advancing carbon nanomaterial technology
Founded by Matteo Pasquali and Dmitri Tsentalovich in 2015, DexMat was founded to commercialise breakthroughs in the manufacturing of advanced carbon nanomaterials based on technology originally developed in the Rice University laboratory.
The company was built on more than $20 million in non-dilutive funding, with Rice University included in the list of original investors.
DexMat’s flagship product is Galvorn, a family of high-performance carbon materials that can displace steel, aluminum, copper, carbon fibers, Kevlar, and other CO2-intensive materials.
According to the company, high-performance Galvorn is an advanced carbon nanomaterial that can be formed into yarns, cables, tapes, woven fabrics, composites, and three-dimensional structures for use in various industries and applications, including energy, automotive, aviation, and wearables.
Its high strength, ultra-lightweight, conductivity, flexibility, corrosion resistance, and other properties make it a superior alternative to traditional materials such as steel, aluminum, copper, carbon fiber, and Kevlar.
DexMat has seen its revenue from commercial sales of Galvorn products nearly double annually since the company’s inception.
Previously, the company has got grants from the Air Force Research Laboratory, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, U.S. Department of Energy, NASA, Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded early research and development for high-performance applications in aerospace and wearables. ARPA-E is funding research on process intensification and cost reduction.
“DexMat presents an opportunity to capture methane, an abundant and inexpensive resource, and use it to replace materials such as steel, aluminum, and copper with a more sustainable option. We are excited to be part of DexMat’s journey going forward and to realize their ambitions,” said Aimee LaFleur, investment principal at Shell.
“The world’s net zero future is entirely dependent on electrifying everything and decarbonizing the built environment. Metals like copper and steel sit at the heart of these trillion-dollar markets, and DexMat’s technology promises carbon-negative, lighter, and stronger versions of what we currently mine and melt. Companies like this can help cement America’s leadership in the most important transition of our lifetimes,” said Shomik Dutta, co-founder and managing partner at Overture Ventures.
