MIPS company Liatris Inc. receives $1 million Phase II NSF SBIR award

Rockville-based Liatris Inc., a thermal insulation start-up, recently announced that it received a $1 million Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The goal of the project is to develop flexible insulation for both high-temperature industrial applications and non-combustible building construction, the latter Liatris’s initial target market. The company plans to complete the development of the first non-combustible, industrially engineered composite for insulation. Liatris will also integrate flexible polymers to increase the ease of handling and installation for industrial use.

“Creating more energy-efficient buildings and industrial processes represents one of our most impactful societal challenges,” said Frank Yang, Liatris’s President & CEO. “Our need to reduce the economic, environmental, and geopolitical impact of high-energy consumption has never been greater. Increasing the portfolio of insulation materials that directly cut heating and cooling losses is a significant and urgent piece of this equation.”

Liatris was the recipient of a two-phase Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) project award to work with Srinivasa Raghavan, Professor, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Maryland, on a project titled “Industrial Insulation Using Low-Cost Nanopore Foam.” The company also received a second MIPS grant to work with Po-Yen Chen, Assistant Professor, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Maryland, on a project titled “Non-Flammable Cellulose-Based Building Insulation.”

In addition to its most recent grant, the company was selected for a $1.6 million Department of Energy BENEFIT award in October 2021 to develop high-performance building insulation.

Liatris is adding six full-time employees to help with its two new projects at its newly leased lab facility in the TwinLabs life sciences complex in Rockville. Liatris is also collaborating with various state and local agencies to scale up lab infrastructure and training, utilizing programs such as the Montgomery County MOVE Incentive, Maryland Project RESTORE, and the Maryland Technology Internship Program.

Founded in 2018, Liatris has raised more than $4 million from collaborative research awards and investor funding, including an oversubscribed $1 million seed round closed last July.

March 18, 2022