What if there were a new process to transform a super-strong, incredibly light-weight, infinitely recyclable material into wildly complex components radically quickly? Something that could cut energy use across heavy industry and transportation? Something that could increase the range of electric vehicles, reduce waste in manufacturing, and boost the circularity of heavy industry?
Meet Alloy Enterprises. The FootPrint Coalition-backed company has developed a new way to make aluminum parts and materials using high speed manufacturing.
Want components for a lightweight exoskeleton for world-defending robots? Use Alloy. Want to make components for EVs that won't weigh as much, allowing the cars to travel longer distances? Use Alloy.
“The Alloy team has proven out a highly efficient process for delivering aluminum components quickly and at scale,” said Maria Buitron, an investor at lead Alloy backer, Piva Capital. “This is a breakthrough for the industry that addresses the need for reasonable lead times, major cost reductions, and on-demand manufacturing, delivering direct benefits to EV, industrial and heavy equipment.”
Alloy claims that it can cut manufacturing times from months to days at a fraction of the cost of traditional manufacturing.
The breakthrough behind Alloy Enterprises is the way that it produces aluminum parts for its customers. A new process for bonding aluminum combined with laser cutting and other 21st century manufacturing technologies is upgrading an industry that hasn't seen much innovation since the 20th century.
Specifically, the ability to use aluminum in these component parts marks a step-change in functional materials, the company said.
“Alloy is poised to transform key industries at a critical time for companies concerned with building more resilient supply chains and reducing their carbon footprint,” said Liz Reynolds, Partner at Unless and Former Special Assistant to the President for Manufacturing at the National Economic Council. “We are at the beginning of an industrial transformation in which the country is reindustrializing. Alloy’s unique technology will help companies accelerate through this transformation.”
Remarkably, Alloy has already scaled and produced equipment in 10-ton runs. It's an incredible achievement for a business that's less than two years old. And a testament to the technology developed by chief executive Ali Forsyth and her team.
“We have an incredible team with the ability to continuously solve hard R&D challenges while staying focused on the customers’ needs,” said Ali Forsyth, CEO Alloy Enterprises. “We went from invention to commercial sales in less than two years."
Now the company has $26 million in new financing from Piva Capital and Unless, Flybridge Capital, MassMutual Catalyst Fund, Congruent Ventures and Riot Ventures to accelerate its growth.
“We’ve made rapid progress and have garnered Fortune 100 manufacturing customers in three major market verticals: automotive, industrial, and heavy equipment. We’ve proven our manufacturing process and are already qualifying customer production parts. We will use this funding to ramp production capacity, further develop our software suite, and apply next-gen automation," Forsyth said. "We’re open for business and scaling rapidly, including hiring across the board in sales, marketing, applications, software, operations, and manufacturing.”