AeroShield Materials Secures $4 Million for Novel Transparent Insulation that Enables the Next Generation of Energy-Efficient Windows
Boston, MA – Nov 9, 2022 – AeroShield Materials, manufacturers of super-insulating materials to decarbonize the world’s built environment, today announced the closing of its Seed funding of $4 million. Key investors include the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, MassVentures, and other sustainability-focused investors. AeroShield will use the funding to expand its manufacturing capabilities, grow its team, and accelerate product development and partnerships to bring the first AeroShield-insulated products to market.
AeroShield Founders Aaron Baskerville-Bridges, Dr. Elise Strobach, and Dr. Kyle Wilke
AeroShield’s breakthrough was developing the world’s most transparent silica aerogels sheets. Silica aerogels are some of the most insulating materials ever created, and AeroShield can be added as a coating to the inner glass of windows and doors to improve energy performance by up to 65%, saving homeowners money and helping save the planet.
Buildings operations represent 27% of global CO2 emissions, and today’s windows are a major contributor to the lack of energy-efficiency. According to the US Department of Energy, heat gain and loss through windows are responsible for up to 30% of a homeowners heating and cooling bills.
While consumers today have the option to install more efficient triple pane windows, US adoption is less than 5% due to high costs, concerns over weight and thickness, and less options for frames and aesthetics. Just 3mm of AeroShield’s material inside a window enables triple pane or better performance at double pane thickness and weight, reducing the cost of high-performance windows while still allowing consumers to choose from existing frames and styles.
“Decarbonizing the built environment is a critical priority, not just for our net zero goals here in Massachusetts but globally.” said John Gorman, Senior Investment Associate at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. ‘We believe AeroShield’s solution represents a step-change in energy efficiency for what has historically been the weakest part of the building envelope: windows. As rising energy costs continue to drive home, we must accelerate the next generation of energy efficiency technologies, and we believe AeroShield is well-positioned to lead the way.”
AeroShield’s patented material can be bonded to glass and improves the energy-efficiency of a wide range of insulated glass products. While R&D is currently focused on residential windows and doors, the material also has applications in commercial windows, grocery store freezer doors, ovens, electric vehicle windows, and solar thermal energy.
“There is a growing recognition that the built environment, and windows in particular, need to get better to enable cities and companies to meet net zero goals” said AeroShield CEO Dr. Elise Strobach “We have spoken to hundreds of manufacturers, builders, and owners and have developed a solution that can overcome the barriers to adoption that triple panes and other window technologies present. Our mission is to make the world’s buildings more sustainable, and we are excited to help home and building owners reduce CO2 emissions by gigatons while saving billions in heating and cooling costs.”
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