Cambridge chemistry technology startup Kebotix has been tapped by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for funding through the Small Business Innovation Research program to develop safe pigment alternatives.
Kebotix uses an AI-powered “self-driving lab” to shorten the R&D timeline for discovering new materials and chemistries.
The $100,000 grant from the EPA is for the startup to develop alternatives to diarylide pigments, often used for home and commercial printing, that do not produce polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) or other toxic byproducts.
The intentional manufacture of PCBs has been largely banned globally, but they are still generated during the production of certain classes of pigments.
“This is a momentum builder for Kebotix’s existing work in the space of environmentally friendly and non-toxic pigments,” said Semion Saikin, the company’s chief science officer, in a statement. “The EPA funding enables us to accelerate engagement with companies expressing interest in testing and buying new halogen- and heavy metal-free pigments that our technology discovers and develops.”
The EPA is one of 11 federal agencies taking part in the SBIR Program, which supports the tech development and commercialization.
“Kebotix’s AI-powered platform is helping address the need for safer color technologies by developing pigment alternatives that do not produce polychlorinated biphenyls and other toxic byproducts that may have adverse human health impacts,” said April Richards, the agency’s SBIR Program Manager.
Founded in 2017 by a group of Harvard researchers, Kebotix raised $11.5 million in Series A financing last year and was named one of BostInno’s Inno on Fire honorees the same year.
