Pittsburgh startup and 'Shark Tank' contestant FlexScreen lands first licensing agreement for other manufacturers to make its products

Local flexible window screen maker and "Shark Tank" alum FlexScreen announced that it will begin licensing its technology to others wishing to manufacture FlexScreens themselves, a company first.

The licensing announcement comes following a partnership FlexScreen made with Princeton, Minnesota-based Erdman Automation Corp., an equipment manufacturing company. According to FlexScreen, Erdman has developed an automated, high-efficiency manufacturing line that will allow window manufacturers to produce FlexScreens at a cheaper cost than standard aluminum window screens, which is resulting in FlexScreen exercising the ability to license the manufacturing of its screens for the first time.

FlexScreen will still continue to oversee the direct manufacturing of its product, which it currently does across seven facilities in the U.S. and Canada.

"We've been pleasantly surprised at the quick response from the companies who have already signed agreements and ordered the equipment, and we have several other verbal agreements with some of the largest window manufacturers in the country," Joe Altieri, FlexScreen Inventor & CEO, said in a prepared statement. "We will maintain and continue to expand our own manufacturing footprint for those companies that want to continue to outsource. We're here for both."

Altieri first appeared on ABC's "Shark Tank" show in January 2020, where he accepted Lori Greiner's deal worth $400,000 in cash and a $400,000 line of credit for 50% of his retail business. The company's products can be found at Home Depot locations across the country and it has plans to expand into other retailers soon.

FlexScreen employs about 160 workers across all seven of its manufacturing plants and out of its Pittsburgh headquarters, of which there are nearly 45 employees.