01Dec
01Dec
Transforming old cardboard boxes into insulation nets CleanFiber $10 million round
It’s the middle of the holiday season here in the U.S., that magical time between Thanksgiving and Christmas when stores are packed with bodies and porches are piled with packages. All those packages produce a lot of waste — anywhere from 33 million tons to 51 million tons annually, depending on the estimate. A majority of it gets recycled, but there’s still a significant fraction that finds its way into landfills. One startup has a plan to slash that fraction...
20Oct
CleanFiber seeks approval for expansion project in Hamburg
CleanFiber Buffalo – which won $500,000 in the state-funded business-plan competition in 2016 as UltraCell – is planning to construct a 5,250-square-foot metal panel addition to its existing 60,000-square-foot masonry-and-panel building at 250 Lake Ave., bringing the total size to 66,000 square feet. That will give the company more room for material handling, as well as new equipment, as part of what CEO Jonathan Strimling described as a $15 million investment in the facility. The project will be reviewed at...
31Aug
CleanFiber raises $8.5 million to expand Buffalo facility
“Extremely strong” demand is driving CleanFiber to expand its Blasdell factory. The company has raised $8.5 million in venture capital to support that expansion. CleanFiber moved to Buffalo in 2017 after winning $500,000 in the 43North startup business competition (43North invested $300,000 in follow-on funding in CleanFiber in 2021). CleanFiber manufactures building insulation from recycled corrugated cardboard. The company moved into its own factory in Blasdell in late 2018 and bought the building earlier this year. CleanFiber will use the...
14Jul
The team will research insulation that incorporates silica aerogel developed by UB researchers, along with plant-based products
A University at Buffalo-led research team will seek to develop eco-friendly insulation materials through a new $2.2 million project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The grant is part of the DOE Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) Harnessing Emissions into Structures Taking Inputs from the Atmosphere (HESTIA) program, which recently announced $39 million in awards to multiple institutions to advance technologies that can transform buildings into net carbon storage structures. The UB-led team will research carbon-storing...
20May
CleanFiber secures $14 million for Lackawanna expansion
A past 43North winner is expanding again after securing $14 million in debt financing. Five years after the company moved to Buffalo, CleanFiber now employs more than 70 people in its Lackawanna factory. The funding will support the addition of new equipment that allows the company to fulfill the demand for its product. “We’ve had a significant uptick in hiring that’s been driven by growth and demand,” CEO Jonathan Strimling said. “We have a long backlog of demand for our...
30Sep
Centivo and CleanFiber headline Buffalo startups that raised money this summer – Buffalo Business First
Buffalo-based startups kept up a robust pace of funding rounds this summer, at least by local standards. Here is a roundup of the companies that completed funding rounds over the past few months...Read more >>
22Sep
CleanFiber raises $11.9M in funding to fuel Buffalo-based expansion
A former 43North winner has closed on a significant funding round to fuel its expansion in Buffalo. CleanFiber, which makes high-performance building insulation, came to Buffalo in 2017 after winning a 43North award. Read more >>
02Oct
Western New York Impact Investing Fund backs recycled insulation startup Cleanfiber
The Western New York Impact Investment Fund has backed Cleanfiber to add a new production facility and create dozens of jobs in… Western New York. Read more >>
02Oct