Foundation Alloy Raises $22 Million Series A to Expand Solid-State Alloy Production
The startup secured a Series A round led by Voyager Ventures to expand its energy-efficient metal alloying process. Multiple investors joined the round, including Yamaha Motors and Kanematsu Corporation.
TechCrunchFoundation Alloy has raised a $22 million Series A round to scale production of alloys made by smashing metal powder particles together instead of melting them. The round was led by Voyager Ventures, with participation from Trust Ventures, Yamaha Motors, America’s Frontier Fund, Overlap Holdings, Material Impact, Engine Ventures, El Cap, and Kanematsu Corporation.
Kanematsu Corporation will distribute Foundation Alloy’s metals in Japan and Southeast Asia.
The company plans to scale production to several tons per week by 2027, according to co-founder and CEO Jake Guglin. Foundation Alloy is running pilots with companies in the automotive, aerospace, semiconductor, and defense industries, as well as firms that make chef’s knives and luxury watches.
Its first products include tooling parts for automakers, aerospace companies, and defense companies, with one early defense market being parts for drones.
The solid-state process uses around an order of magnitude less energy than traditional melting-based alloying, he said. The technology is based on research led by Tim Rupert and Chris Schuh over the last 20 years. Schuh previously co-founded Desktop Metal and Xtalic.
Foundation Alloy uses a special type of mill that repeatedly smashes different metal powders together until they become one new metal.
