NuMat Technologies, a materials technology company that captured top honors at cleantech business competitions across the country, today announced it closed a $2 million seed round, bringing the nanotech startup's total funding to $2.4 million.

The GOOSE Society of Texas, an angel network, led the round, which included participation from Owl Investment Group.

NuMat's materials technology enables fundamental performance shifts in the gas storage and separations industries through tailor designed nanoporous materials which can efficiently store gases at low pressure. This breakthrough addresses the "compression obstacle" for gas storage and transportation applications. For example, NuMat has developed materials which can store methane at approximately one-fifth the pressure of existing compressed natural gas solutions.

NuMat is commercializing Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs), which have the highest surface area of any known material. One gram of MOFs, unfolded, can cover an entire football field, a key innovation because gases stick to surfaces.

The company debuted on the national stage when it earned top honors at the 2012 Clean Energy Challenge, followed by wins at the Rice Business Plan Competition, the inaugural U.S. Dept. of Energy National Clean Technology Business Plan Competition and the 2012 Global Venture Lab Investment Competition. NuMat was also awarded the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Cleantech Innovation award.

NuMat recently moved into a new research facility at the Illinois Science and Technology Park in Skokie, Ill., and named a Board of Directors, which includes founders Ben Hernandez and Dr. Omar Farha along with Luka Erceg, former CEO of Simbol Materials, and Robert Winter, daVinci Capital Group managing director.

"This committed group of early-stage investors and our scientific team are focused on ensuring NuMat quickly achieves the critical development milestones necessary to commercialize our game-changing technology," said Ben Hernandez, NuMat Technologies CEO.

About NuMat Technologies

NuMat Technologies is commercializing nanoporous materials that can significantly improve the storage efficiency of gas storage applications, enabling high value gases to be stored at lower pressures. Founded in 2012, the company is a Northwestern University spin-out that designs and synthesizes Metal Organic Frameworks (MOF's). NuMat's proprietary computational approach allows it to rapidly design and then synthesize novel structures using patent-protected chemical processes.