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If the seventies and ’ eighty were the Renaissance of advanced polymer discovery , we are now living through a Dark Ages . The understanding for such persistent stagnation in the field is comparatively straight : Virtually all polymers are base on petrochemicals , and that set of molecules has been all but exhausted .
This lack of progress in advanced polymers has major downstream implications on fields like aerospace and hypersonics . These sectors “ [ are ] really advertise textile boundaries right-hand to the limit,”CambiumCEO Simon Waddington aver in a late interview .
Cambium , a startup founded in 2020 by Waddington and COO Stephan Herrera , wants to reinvigorate sophisticated fabric development for defending team , aerospace , automotive and more by mining the vast and complex world of biologic system . The company is n’t necessarily making anything in biology — in a fermenter , say — but through traditional chemical science , via a discovery platform that acts as a “ molecule - to - machine ” innovator . This platform includes a computational program that can mine biology for atom and facilities to make the composite and test it in the real world .
“ We need to be able-bodied to go properly back to the speck , search at what the problem is , redesign molecule from the ground up — but with manufacture in mind , ” Waddington said . “ Then we call for to in reality make those molecules , we necessitate to prove them , we necessitate to go into proof of construct and go all the room down . ”
Cambium kickstarted with an early collaboration with the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division , headquarter in China Lake , California , on bio - based , eminent - temperature composite materials to help make aircraft , ships , submarines and space vehicle more fire - resistant . These thermal protection systems were put to the exam in a alive lighting of the wing of a medium - sized UAV , and Cambium found they far outperform other available materials .
Since then , the company has inflate to three main lines of line , Waddington said . The first is the high - temperature , lightweight polymer just mentioned , which could be suitable for UAVs , eVTOLs or battery casings . The 2d pedigree of business is an even higher temperature set of stuff that almost look like ceramic ; these are better suited to hypersonic applications , where temperatures can impinge on extremum . The net area is emerging land , like protection against laser for satellite , eyes and other applications .
To continue developing these materials , Cambium just shut down a $ 19 million Series A financial backing daily round lead by 8VC , with participation from Veteran Ventures , GSBackers , Marlinspike , MVP Ventures , Gaingels , Kern Venture Fund , Jackson Moses ( Founder , Silent Ventures ) , Vertical Capital and backer investors . The company has now raised over $ 27 million to - date , including an $ 8 million seed daily round in 2021 .
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Waddington said the funding will go toward building out facility and to do some of the advanced materials demo tryout , with the purpose of incite to product tax revenue by 2025 . While much of the company ’s current revenue comes from enquiry and development awards from U.S. government entity — including honour from bioMADE , the biomanufacturing arm of the DOD , and the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering — Cambium is in talks with legion commercial-grade companies , including defense tech startup .
“ We verbalise to all of them , ” Waddington tell . “ And we will continue to do so because we do divvy up exactly the same thesis , which is there ’s a generational shift in the industrial base and that requires new ways of intellection . ”
Cambium ’s headcount will dispatch around twenty by Christmas , and Waddington hope to reduplicate that routine by the end of next year .
