New chemicals company aims to use AI to enhance sustainable solutions
Sustainable chemicals company, Mattiq has today announced its launch alongside securing $15 million in seed funding, led by Boston-based venture capital firm Material Impact. Formerly known as Stoicheia, Mattiq also announced it has hired veteran Silicon Valley executive and entrepreneur Jeff Erhardt as Chief Executive Officer.
Material scientist and professor Chad Mirkin, Mattiq’s ‘chemistry for climate’ platform pairs nanotechnology with AI to speed the discovery and deployment of new materials with the aim of powering the energy transition. According to the company, Mirkin has helped develop more than 2,000 commercial products in life sciences, biomedicine, biotechnology, 3D printing, nanofabrication, and semiconductor processing, and is founding director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology at Northwestern University, where Mattiq was developed.
Mattiq Founder and Director Chad Mirkin said: “From the stone age to the silicon era, materials discovery has been slow, unpredictable, and constrained by the performance of available materials, “Mattiq is disrupting this status quo, resulting in discoveries that enable new technologies at a pace not previously imaginable.”
By 2024, Mattiq aims to have synthesized and analysed more than one trillion novel material combinations within the context of real-world industrial systems. Currently focused on the commercialization of clean electrochemical production of critical products, Mattiq develops new chemical systems at an unprecedented speed and scale to facilitate:
- The commercially viable production of e-chemicals and e-fuels with reduced dependence on scarce and expensive materials such as iridium (currently critical for green hydrogen production)
- Reduced supply chain volatility and carbon footprint (including scope 3 emissions) in the chemical and energy industries
- A circular economy in which products from plastics to jet fuel are made only from renewable feedstocks and electricity
Carmichael Roberts, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Material Impact added: “At Material Impact, we seek startups with the potential to transform industries through category-creating deep technologies. With momentum in the energy transition constrained by the availability and performance of fundamental materials, Mattiq’s unique approach presents an opportunity of immeasurable value in the clean economy.”
Jeff Erhardt, CEO of Mattiq said: “Solutions to the materials bottleneck must meet skyrocketing demand while also reducing the ‘green premium’ so that climate technologies can be scaled in commercially viable ways. Mattiq’s discoveries will make possible technologies that today can only be imagined; it is an opportunity of a lifetime, and I’m thrilled to be joining this incredible team.”
