EnKoat receives $100,000 in follow-on funding through Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator
[Phoenix] — July 22, 2021 — In late 2019, EnKoat was selected to participate in the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2), a technology incubator and platform funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation and co-administered by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). EnKoat’s participation in the IN2 program provided an opportunity to work directly with world leading thermal energy scientists and engineers to further develop the Active Insulation™ technology. The program consisted of a two-phase project where the first phase focused on experimental testing and validation of the physical coating material. The second phase of the project was to understand how the technology influences the energy consumption and savings when applied to a building.
EnKoat Co-Founder and CTO Aashay Arora, “Being able to measure the thermal performance of our coatings using NREL’s state of the art thermal equipment has allowed us to validate our technology which is a significant milestone towards market adoption.”
Today, EnKoat announced it has received an additional $100,000 in follow-on funding to further accelerate their path to market. Building upon the previous collaborative work, this funding looks to scale and model EnKoat’s Active Insulation™ on larger scale US residential and commercial building stock to understand the total GHG reduction potential.
“I’m excited to see how our technology can make an impact at every level of the built environment from city, state, to national scales. Collaborating with the team at NREL has been an invaluable experience and I’m excited to continue our work with them.” - Matthew Aguayo, EnKoat Co-Founder and CEO.
About EnKoat
EnKoat is a clean-tech and advanced materials company developing sustainable material solutions for the built environment. EnKoat is re-engineering traditional building products like architectural coatings and wall panels into multifunctional products which provide enhanced thermal performance benefits. EnKoat’s Active Insulation™ platform technology regulates the internal building temperatures leading to a reduction in global carbon emissions by millions of metric tons per year.
About the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2)
The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2) is a $30 million technology incubator and platform funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation. Co-administered by and housed at the U.S Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, IN2’s mission is to speed the path to market for early-stage, clean-technology entrepreneurs. Launched in 2014 with an initial focus on supporting scalable solutions to reduce the energy impact of commercial buildings, IN2 has since expanded its focus to advance technologies that address the sustainable production of agriculture and affordable housing. Companies selected for participation in the program receive up to $250,000 in non-dilutive funding from Wells Fargo, technical support and validation from experts at NREL and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and ongoing connections to organizations across value chains. For more information, visit in2ecosystem.com.
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EnKoat receives $100,000 in follow-on funding through Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator
Dr. Aashay Arora, EnKoat’s Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, presented EnKoat’s innovative Active Insulation™ technology at the recently concluded 35th Biennial Western Coatings Show located at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Convention Centre in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Dr Arora presented EnKoat’s work on temperature regulating coatings in his presentation titled “Developing Temperature-Regulating Coatings – A Novel Approach Using Parametric Energy Modeling”. He discussed the role of energy modeling and simulations to solve complex heat-transfer problems to design functional coatings with the capability to regulate temperatures. He also shared results from a recently concluded field pilot in Arizona, where EnKoat’s roof coating product demonstrated over 30% savings in heating and cooling energy consumption as compared to a commercial roof coating.
EnKoat’s R&D, funded by the National Science Foundation, is focused on developing these novel coatings to maximize energy savings for infrastructure. “At a time when thermal management is gaining momentum and is the subject of several conversations in the industry, an innovative technology like Active Insulation™ can have a huge impact driving sustainability and reducing emissions”, Arora says.
EnKoat CEO, Dr. Matthew Aguayo, says, “It’s very exciting to be at the Western Coatings Show to present our technology and make a case for thermal management. We’re thrilled with the interest people had around innovative coating technologies. Although our Active Insulation™ is a platform technology suitable for multiple types of building products, we’re targeting coatings as our first major market. We’re looking to collaborate one-on-one with businesses who have strong decarbonization goals and are looking for a simple and scalable solution.”
About EnKoat
EnKoat is a clean-tech and advanced materials company developing sustainable material solutions for the built environment. EnKoat is re-engineering traditional building products like architectural coatings and wall panels into multifunctional products which provide enhanced thermal resiliency and energy efficiency benefits. EnKoat’s Active Insulation™ platform technology regulates internal building temperatures leading to a significant reduction in global carbon emissions by millions of metric tons per year.
About the Western Coatings Show
Held every two years, the Western Coatings Symposium and Show serves the people and businesses that formulate and manufacture coatings in Western USA and Canada. Attendees can expect to come away from our show with a greater knowledge of the newest technical trends and advancements in coatings formulating, as well as an expanded network of key technical contacts in the industry.
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