CleanFiber has raised $4.9 million in private financing as it enacts plans to open a full-fledged factory in Western New York in the next few months.
The company moved from Massachusetts to Western New York in early 2017 after winning $500,000 in the 43North competition. It manufactures building insulation from recycled corrugated cardboard.
The company, formerly called UltraCell Insulation, plans to open its factory at a former Bethlehem Steel warehouse in Blasdell. One of its new investors, the Western New York Impact Investment Fund, said the facility will employ between 30 and 35 people once manufacturing begins.
CEO Jon Strimling said the factory is expected to come online in early 2019.
“We’re going to use the funding to expand operations operations and meet a backlog of operations that we have for the business,” Strimling said. “We’re planning on staying in Buffalo and continuing to expand and hire here.”
CleanFiber’s existing competitors mostly use recycled newspaper, but with a dwindling supply of that stock, a gap is developing in the market. Strimling said his company makes a higher-quality product at a better cost.
CleanFiber has steadily brought on investors over the past few years. It closed on on $1.56 million in funding in March and another $870,000 in December, according to federal Form D filings.
The new funding, totaling $4.9 million, is a mix of equity and debt financing. Investors in the new round include the WNY Impact fund, the Buffalo Angels fund and Kevin Christner’s Richmond Capital Partners. Other backers include the Clean Energy Venture Group, Investors’ Circle and SustainVC.
“We couldn’t be more excited about the business,” Strimling said. “We’ve got a great team and great local support.”
UltraCell is among 12 local startups that have acknowledged private, growth-oriented financing this year. The list includes ACV Auctions ($31 million), PostProcess Technologies ($7.8 million), Viridi Parente ($4.05 million), Circuit Clinical ($1.75 million), UltraCell
Insulation ($6.46 million raised this year), Drone Energy ($1 million), Ru’s Pierogi ($1 million), Buffalo Automation ($900,000), EcoVerde ($450,000), RepHike ($195,00) and OmniSeq (undisclosed).