Slips Technologies said today that it raised nearly $9 million for the super-slippery coating it’s developing, including a $3 million grant from a U.S. Energy Dept. agency.
Named for its technology, “slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces,” the Cambridge, Mass.-based company’s coating is designed to create a self-healing liquid layer that’s too slippery for other fluids to adhere to. Slips, a spinout of Harvard’s Wyss Institute, said the coating can be applied to materials including plastic, metal, ceramic, glass and concrete. The tech is based on the slippery surface of the carnivorous Nepenthes “pitcher plant.”
The $8.6 million round saw participation from Anzu Partners and the Mass. Clean Energy Center and prior backers BASF Venture Capital and private investor Hansjörg Wyss. It also involved the $3.0 million grant from the DoE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency to investigate Slips anti-fouling paints in raising fuel efficiency and lowering carbon emissions from commercial cargo ships.
Slips said it’s also working with medical device companies on coatings to repel infection-causing biofilms on catheters, drainage tubes, stents and other devices. The proceeds from the funding round are earmarked for product development & testing, commercialization and core tech expansion, the company said.
“Our customers are extremely excited about the significant value our materials and coatings bring to their businesses,” CEO David Ward said in prepared remarks. “I am delighted to help this innovative company continue to scale during its commercial product launch phase.”
BASF Venture Capital and Wyss backed Slips in its $3 million Series A round in 2014.
“Slips Technologies is positioned to transform industries with its innovative coatings,” added BASF-VC investment manager Michael Nettersheimer. “We are pleased with the progress Slips Technologies has made since its initial funding round that BASF led, and we look forward to helping bring these Slips solutions to additional markets.”
Last week Johnson & Johnson Innovation, the incubation arm of healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), also backed Slips.
