"For ten years, people have been saying nanotechnology is going to hit next year," CEO Craig Bandes joked. "Well, now it is actually happening and these companies are finally seeing that nanotechnology is real -- that it is having real, significant impacts in a number of different technologies and products."
Since moving its operations to Baltimore in 2011, nanocrystal additive manufacturer, Pixelligent Technologies, has seen the kind of explosive growth and market success that seems only possible in business school fantasies and start-up legends.
In these past 17 months, the company has seen its customer pipeline increase tenfold and has grown to include some of the world's largest chemical-polymer manufacturing companies, prompting a 150% increase in its workforce and an expansion to a 13,000-square-foot facility.
According to CEO Craig Bandes, though this success appears to have struck fast, it has been long in coming for the industry.
"For ten years, people have been saying nanotechnology is going to hit next year," he joked. "Well, now it is actually happening and these companies are finally seeing that nanotechnology is real -- that it is having real, significant impacts in a number of different technologies and products."
| "There is a convergence going on between a receptive market that is out there looking for nano-enabled solutions and companies like Pixelligent that have cracked the code on the technology." |
Of course, this newly realized and matured technology wouldn't mean much without a receptive market. Luckily, today's manufacturers seem very much in the mood for progress.
"In the industrial world, there is a real focus now on how to incorporate next-generation materials into what they are doing today," he explained. "There is a convergence going on between a receptive market that is out there looking for nano-enabled solutions and companies like Pixelligent that have cracked the code on the technology."
This convergence is translating into what many are calling a "nanotech revolution," as the long-awaited mainstream adoption of the technology finally takes hold.
For Pixelligent, this has meant some impressive growth both in the market and in their production process.
"Going back two years, we were working with 100 milliliter reactors," Bandes recalled. "But any minute now we're going to have our first 30 gallon reactor arrive, and we expect from there we'll go up into hundred-gallon-sized reactors."
This growth speaks much about the quality of the company's products and processes, but the market boost Bandes is describing isn't exclusive to Pixelligent alone. IndustryWeek recently reported on a partnership between Nanocomp Technologies and DuPont (IW 500/36) that highlights this same trend, for example, and there are plenty of other stories around to give it credence.
What is driving all of this, Bandes explained, is the long-awaited alignment of the market's need and the technology's supply.
