A Snohomish County warehouse, full of machines making metal sandwiches out of tiny, microscopic layers of material, is not the typical place you’d expect major oil companies to be investing millions of dollars.
But industry giants are throwing millions behind Seattle-based Modumetal, which is creating a new class of metal, and testing stronger, less corrosive nuts and bolts with oil customers.
The company has raised a financing round of about $33.5 million, according to an SEC filing. The round was led by Peter Thiel’s venture-capital firm Founders Fund, with participation from oil giants, including BP Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures and ConocoPhillips.
Modumetal has deep connections to the oil and gas industry because of its core product — a process that creates a metal designed to be more corrosion-resistant, stronger and longer lasting than traditional metals, such as steel and aluminum.
Modumetal nuts and bolts are priced similarly to those made of other metals, CEO Christina Lomasney said, but are made to last eight times as long.
“That means bridges that can last longer, cars that are lighter and engines that can run hotter,” she said.
Modumetal has the backing of Steve Singh, the co-founder of Bellevue business-software developer Concur; he also is on Modumetal’s board. That may be a far cry from Singh’s software roots, but he sees big potential in Modumetal’s products.
He pointed to safer oil drilling from less corrosion and lighter, stronger vehicles.
“The real attraction is if you can deliver technology that fundamentally changes the manufacturing process. … It helps not just Modumetal’s business, it helps more broadly across the global economy,” Singh said.
For the oil industry, Modumetal’s products means oil rigs that could withstand big challenges with corrosion, an issue that has cost companies globally $2.2 trillion, Lomasney said.
