US-based electrolytes manufacturer Boulder Ionics has been acquired by industrial components producer CoorsTek for an undisclosed sum, providing corporate-backed venture capital firm Pangaea Ventures with its first exit from its third fund and the first sale to one of its corporate investors.
Boulder Ionics (BI) manufacturers electrolytes for batteries and ultracapacitors, for use in consumer electronics, hybrid cars, electric vehicles and grid-scale energy storage.
CoorsTek produces components using custom-made ceramics, plastics and metals. The acquisition is part of the company’s strategy to expand into the battery materials market.
Boulder Ionics will join Outlast Technologies, which develops phase change polymers and coatings, as the two founding companies of CoorTek’s new unit CoorsTek Specialty Chemicals.
BI raised $4.3m in a series A round in 2012 from Pangaea Ventures, CoorsTek investment arm 9th Street Investments, CalCEF Clean Energy Angel Fund, Protonic Capital and JSR. The round was supported with a grant of close to $2m from the National Science Foundation, US Air Force and US Navy.
The company also received $500,000 from Southern Cross Renewable Energy Fund in November 2013.
Pangaea is backed by a host of industrial strategic partners including CoorsTek, electronics manufacturer Samsung, specialty chemicals producers Evonik and BASF, and Castrol InnoVentures, lubricant producer Castrol’s corporate venturing unit.