2014-2016 Exhibitions
BASF Venture Capital, a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF New Business based in Ludwigshafen, Germany, has led a US$3 million Series A financing with a US$1.5 million investment in SLIPS Technologies based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US. The Swiss entrepreneur and private investor Hansjörg Wyss has also participated in the financing.
SLIPS Technologies develops customised, highly-repellent slippery surfaces for customers in all industries including energy, packaging, and consumer, automotive and environmental. The startup technology was pioneers by Prof Joanna Aizenberg and her team at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, and the Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, both at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Alongside the investment, BASF also signed a joint development agreement with SLIPS Technologies to develop SLIPS-coated thermoplastics with primary focus on thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs), which are used in a variety of applications, such as sports and leisure footwear, industrial cables as well as specialty films.
The company says that it will use the proceeds from the financing to advance various commercial applications of its slippery surfaces through internal development as well as in partnerships with its customers in industry and government.
(PRA)
