Newsletter and Fundraising Announcement - January 2025

I’m excited to share our end-of-year update and some exciting news about our plans for 2025, a year which promises to be very important in the history of our company. After eight years of being almost entirely grant- and R&D-funded, SMS is preparing to raise a seed round with the goal of commercializing some of our research! Our larger funding round will take place later this year, but for the next few weeks we have a time-critical opportunity to capture a 1:1 non-dilutive match from NASA for any equity dollars we raise. We’d love to speak with you more about this opportunity and would also be grateful for any introductions to potential investors that might want to take part in this SAFE round. 

For those of you who have been following us for years, we’ve been biding our time - using R&D to build up a manufacturing tool kit and application knowledge - mostly with NSF, NASA, and Army buy-in. This year alone, we’ve developed procedures to create eye-catching images and logos by writing billions of nanoscale features, made significant progress on our SBIR work to enhance solar energy and stealth capabilities, and installed a roll-to-roll nanoimprint machine at SMS. This tool, along with our growing mold-making capabilities, allows us to do manufacturing for some applications from start to finish, all in house! This reduces engineering risk and enables significant flexibility in our business models, making now the perfect time to go to market with our advanced surface nanotexturing capabilities. 

We very much appreciate the support, and I hope you’ll reach out to hear more about our vision and pick up a copy of our pitch deck [1]!

Stephen Furst

 

Fundraising and NASA Match

In the next month, Smart Material Solutions is eligible for a 1:1 match on the first $375k of investment dollars received. The match can be used to extend the effort of our NASA Phase II SBIR for dust-mitigation objectives. We see this as not only some great fuel towards commercializing a space application with NASA but also a great proof point for investor and customer interest as we plan to launch a priced round later in the year.

Image Indenting

Last year, SMS developed the ability to write images and logos into our seamless molds. These images consist of 2D diffraction gratings with pitches from 250 nanometers to several microns, which we can currently write with resolutions approaching 300 DPI. We are exploring novel decorative applications of these images, such as on watch faces or car wraps. If you have any suggested partners you could introduce, please let us know.

Army SBIR Work

SMS continues work on two parallel Army-funded SBIR projects, the first dedicated to enhancing solar panels with light-trapping films, and the second to controlling the IR signatures with plasmonic metamaterials. The solar project has been a resounding technical success, with SMS and its team of MicroContinuum, Inc. and Powerfilm Solar achieving 5-10% more power per day due to improved light capture. The metamaterials project has just entered its second year, and samples are beginning to roll off the line!

Roll-to-Roll Nanoimprint Tool

In December SMS required a used Carpe Diem Technologies Nanoemboss 100 tool from the UMass Amherst Institute for Hierarchical Manufacturing. The tool will enable SMS to do roll-to-roll nanoimprint lithography using UV curable resins on a 6” web. Now SMS has seamless master mold fabrication and roll-to-roll replication in the same temperature-controlled cleanroom!

Outreach Activities

Upcoming Conferences 

Recent Blogs

Check out our most recent SEM gallery from our work on the nanoscale!

[1] Disclaimer - This is not a general solicitation for investment. The company will discuss this opportunity with and will only accepted investment from “accredited investors”, as defined by the SEC.