Forge Nano builds products from the atoms up. On Tuesday, the company announced an expansion of its own.
The surface engineering and nanocoating technology company announced it was consolidating its two Colorado facilities into a single innovation hub in Denver. The 40-person company plans to use the new, 40,000-square-foot office space to expand its team by about 12 individuals over the next year, said Mike Talarico, inbound marketing lead.
“We really want to do the best to get this technology out and open it up to as many industries as possible,” Talarico told Built In. “We really want to attract Denver’s brightest, and the most excited talent there is, to innovate with us.”
Founded in 2013, Forge Nano specializes in atomic layer deposition, which basically means it can manipulate the chemical surface of materials down to the atomic level — laying down product layers in coatings a million times slimmer than the the average human hair. The company helps customers like Volkswagen, LG Technology Ventures and the United States Department of Energy create new materials and innovate on existing items, like lithium ion batteries, improving their performance, extending their life cycle and enhancing their safety.
In February, the company merged with ALD Nano, a rival nanoparticle company in Broomfield. Unlike competitors Arradiance in Massachusetts, and Picosun and Beneq in Finland, Talarico said the combined Forge Nano represents the only atomic layer deposition company that has found a way to scale the technology. The expanded office was necessary to accommodate the new company’s growing team and customer base.
“We were basically at capacity, and needed to be able to open up to new customers and also to innovate,” Talarico said. “This new space brings everything together under one roof, and then allows us to expand our current set of tools.”
The new facility will allow Forge Nano space to not only commit research and development to its processes, but also provide customers a proof of concept of their products and pilot industrial scale projects, Talarico said. The company expects to grow revenue 50 percent year over year, thanks to its merger and move.
Forge Nano has currently raised $21 million in funding. The company is in the process of raising an undisclosed Series B round.
“Sometimes people think this technology is just science fiction — it sounds like a dream,” Talarico said. “But then we share these really great scenarios, and help them develop things that they hadn’t even thought of.”
