Denver-based Vartega, a carbon-fiber recycling company, is gearing up to assist with a demand for their product amid the difficulties faced when an item is no longer functional. The company recently raised nearly $3.1 million, and it opened a new 82,000-square-foot facility on Pecos Street in late May.
"Vartega is focused on carbon-fiber recycling, more broadly composites recycling," Vartega co-founder and CEO Andrew Maxey said. "In fact, our mission is to solve the world's toughest advanced materials recycling challenges."
From car and aircraft parts to golf clubs, bicycles, tent poles and more, carbon fiber is used to make a variety of everyday objects. While products made with this material are typically lighter in weight and more durable than those made with plastic, carbon fiber is hard to recycle. Yet, the demand for high-performance materials made from the product is on the rise.
In fact, the recycled carbon fiber market is expected to grow from $172 million this year to a whopping $278 million by 2028, according to a recent report from research firm Research and Markets.
Vartega uses proprietary technology to recycle carbon fiber but the end result is carbon fiber bundles that can be used in thermoplastics, or polymers that can melt and be molded into various shapes.
Vartega's recycled carbon fiber is used to make a variety of products — just like new material — where regular plastic just won't cut it.
Founding story
Maxey didn’t start experimenting with ways to recycle carbon fiber until 2013. His interest in the material formed when he worked at a bicycle shop in northern Michigan in the late 1990s. Carbon fiber bikes, at the time, were surging in popularity.
A customer left a new carbon fiber bicycle on the roof rack of a car and forgot about it when pulling into the garage. Maxey said the bike was destroyed but that meant he could take the frame home, cut it apart and learn more about carbon fiber.
“I was, you know, a geek kid and was super intrigued,” Maxey said.
A decade later, Maxey graduated college with a degree in mechanical engineering and started a career in textile processing. That’s when he realized the value of carbon fiber and after researching the market learned about waste in the industry.
To find a better way to manage the waste, he took to his garage and began experimenting with ways to recycle carbon fiber. After “several epic failures,” Maxey said one test slightly worked. This led to more market and technology research before deciding to form Vartega.
The company was co-founded in 2014 by Maxey, Sean Kline, Josh Gary and Mark Williams. Kline also serves as Vartega’s VP of engineering. Gary and Williams are no longer with the company but are big supporters, Maxey said.
Future growth
In late May, Vartega moved its headquarters from Golden to an 82,000-square-foot facility in Denver at 5675 Pecos St. The company initially committed to a 50,000-square-foot facility but opted to expand to keep up with demand and further build out the space.
"We knew we needed more space,” Maxey said. “We had some big contracts that we had been awarded and we needed to grow and invest in capacity.”
Work in the majority of the space began the last week of June and the last three bays will be operational early next year.
The facility in Golden will remain until at least March 2024. Maxey said Vartega may move its Golden operations to Denver or keep the space to operate different technology.
As for the recent $3.1 million equity raise, Maxey said it’s all about growth at Vartega’s new facility.
“What we're planning on doing here is replicating what we've done with carbon fiber and applying that to fiberglass and other advanced materials,” he said. “So that additional capital, we're looking to raise a Series A later this year, will allow us to do that.”
The 38-person company also expects to increase its headcount over the next few years. Maxey said Vartega’s headcount will be sitting at about 40 to 42 people by the end of the year and exceed 100 employees by 2026.
The company plans to hire production, technical and supply chain roles this year, in addition to an environmental health and safety manager.
Vartega has raised $10.7 million to date, including a $5 million seed II round led by Belle Impact Fund and several grants from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the National Science Foundation.
