As anyone familiar with the Akamai story can tell you, losing the MIT $100K doesn’t mean you aren’t the best company there.
In 2012, LiquiGlide—a company that has developed a super-slippery coating for inside the bottles of ketchup and other condiments—fell short of taking home the top prize at MIT’s prestigious business competition. That award went to CloudTop, a startup that promptly left for the West Coast and apparently has yet to launch a product.
LiquiGlide, however, disclosed on Monday that it has raised $7 million in equity funding for expansion, including moving into an 11,000-square-foot office and lab space in Cambridge.
LiquiGlide CEO/co-inventor Dave Smith put it this way in a news release: “We see unlimited potential for our slippery coatings and feel a sense of urgency to bring them to the industries where they can make a real impact.”
Along with providing its coatings for food industry products, LiquiGlide is eyeing health and beauty products other consumer goods. The coatings are also a possibility for industries including oil and gas, medical, life sciences, agrochemical and aerospace, LiquiGlide said. The company says it has more than 30 paying clients across multiple industries.
LiquiGlide’s technology was developed at MIT by Smith and MIT professor Kripa Varanasi.
The $7 million funding round comes from Roadmap Capital, and LiquiGlide employs 20.
