DetraPel, a Framingham, Massachusetts-based advanced materials company, plans to use the proceeds of a recent USD 7.6m Series A round to grow its industrial segment, said David Zamarin, the CEO and founder.   

The company uses water-soluble, non-toxic ingredients. It doesn’t use harmful chemicals such as PFAS, the so-called “forever chemicals” that leach into the environment and potentially cause cancer. For textiles, its protective coatings repel liquids, resist stains, and prevent fading from UV and flame retardancy. In food packaging, its barrier coatings provide oil and grease resistance, address moisture sensitivity, provide release properties, and withstand temperature fluctuations. Some of its coatings are antimicrobial with applications in healthcare.   

The Series A on 11 September was led by Material Impact. Additional investors included packaging ink manufacturer INX International, Touchdown Ventures, FitzGate Ventures, Boro Capital and Icebook Investments.  

Zamarin said when the company set out to raise capital, he received a term sheet from a venture capital firm that wanted to merge it with one of its portfolio companies. The proposed valuation, USD 56m, would have been more than twice what it fetched from Material Impact, he said.   

He said the company didn’t necessarily need the money and “Material Impact is more aligned with our long-term strategic goals.”   

Zamarin started the business in 2013 when he was only 15 years old. Zamarin spent the first five years “purely on R&D” before appearing on the TV show, Shark Tank, in late 2017. At that point, DetraPel broke out its consumer division at full scale, he said. “Shark Tank made it an actual company as opposed to a hobby,” he said. The consumer division, rebranded several weeks ago as ProofPlus, provides household cleaning and fabric protection products sold online directly to consumers as well as in some smaller retail stores.   

DetraPel as a whole has been revenue-generating and profitable during most years, he said. It has just under 20 employees. He declined to disclose revenue figures.   

The capital raised is being used to extend DetraPel’s growth, particularly for the industrial division, which was just rebranded as Impermea Materials.   

“The industrial side is the main focus and has been since inception,” he said. The capital will be used to expand capabilities and production capacity and “to continue to grow innovation,” he said.  The company is also evaluating whether to bring the process of applying its coatings in-house.  

“We believe we’ll be able to win 80% more business if the applications are done in-house,” he said. This probably won’t happen for another 12 to 18 months, he added.   

Detrapel’s manufacturing facility will be expanded from 23,000 square feet to as much as 100,000 square feet, through a local relocation, he said.   

All of the company’s R&D, manufacturing, sales and marketing are handled in-house, he noted.   

DetraPel has many competitors but the executive said he doesn’t believe any of them are free of PFAS chemicals across their entire product lines. He pointed to companies such as Michelman Coatings, Milliken, 3M, Solenis and Actega.   

When asked about the timing for a potential spinoff of DetraPel’s consumer business, Zamarin said there are no current plans. “That would be a distraction. It would require further resources to separate the business,” he said. But he added that “it’s definitely up for discussion in the future.”   

The consumer business is self-sufficient and profitable on its own, he said. It works with large players in the textile, paper and food packaging spaces.   

The unit could eventually attract a consumer packaged goods strategic or a private equity buyer, he said.    

DetraPel manufactures all of its consumer products and co-manufactures the pressurized containers the products are dispensed from. “That could be good for PE interested in CPG and in-house manufacturing,” he said.   

When the company as a whole is ready to exit, it would sell to a strategic in the materials segment, a private equity firm or pursue an IPO. Instead of a revenue milestone, he said he has a valuation milestone in mind: a five to seven times revenue multiple. “We’re not there yet,” he said.   

The CEO pointed to several recent exits and capital raises by advanced materials and packaging companies, including Solenis’s USD 5.25bn sale to Platinum Equity in 2021; Temperpack, which raised USD 140m last year and acquired KTM Industries in August 2022. Other players include Folia Materials and Melodea, he said.  

Zamarin is the company’s largest shareholder but does not own the majority of the shares, he said.