Lehigh Technologies, Inc., a leading sustainable materials company, today announced the closing of an $8 million strategic financing round to support the company's geographic expansion and technology roadmap. JSR Corporation, a $4 billion specialty chemicals company, participated in the latest round of financing, joining existing investors Leaf Clean Energy; Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers; Index Ventures; and Florida Gulfshore Capital.
Lehigh Technologies has commercialized a micronized rubber powder (MRP) technology that transforms end-of-life rubber material into a lower cost, sustainable specialty chemical that replaces oil-based materials to reduce costs, provide performance and reduce waste in a wide range of end-use markets. To date, Lehigh's MRP has been used in the manufacture of over 250 million tires, and the company serves six of the world's top ten tire manufacturers.
'Commercial sales of MRP have been growing rapidly- over the past few years alone, we've demonstrated annual growth rates of 30 percent,' said Dr. Alan Barton, CEO of Lehigh Technologies. 'Furthermore, we have made significant inroads into markets outside of the United States. However, this latest round of financing will give the company additional resources to drive growth in Europe and Asia, eventually culminating in local manufacturing. JSR, a highly regarded leader in polymer technology, will play a key role in this process.'
Lehigh operates the world's largest MRP production facility, which has 140 million pounds of annual capacity. Lehigh has also invested in best-in-class research and development facilities, where it works with customers to develop new and more advanced MRP formulations for high-value applications in the tire and rubber, plastics and asphalt industries, among others.
'Under the concept of E2 initiative*, JSR is continuously seeking opportunities to contribute to low carbon society through Materials Innovation', said Koichi Kawasaki, Executive Managing Officer at JSR Corp. 'Partnering in Lehigh's growth and geographic expansion strategy is a great fit for JSR, as the company's novel MRP technology offers our customer base a new material that brings a strong value proposition and sustainability benefits.'
About Lehigh Technologies
Lehigh Technologies is a leading specialty materials company that produces high-performance micronized rubber powders (MRP), a lower cost, high-performance, sustainable specialty material that replaces oil-based materials to reduce costs and cut waste. Lehigh's cryogenic turbo mill technology breaks down end-of-life tires and other post-industrial rubber into micron-scale powders used in a wide range of consumer and industrial applications, including high-performance tires, industrial rubber, consumer and industrial plastics goods, asphalt and coatings and construction materials. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Lehigh is privately held and backed by JSR Corp., Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Index Ventures, NGP Energy Technology Partners, Leaf Clean Energy and Florida Gulfshore Capital. To learn more, visit www.lehightechnologies.com.
About JSR Corporation
JSR Corporation is a multinational company employing about 5,600 people worldwide and a leading materials supplier in a variety of technology driven markets. JSR's global network is headquartered in Tokyo (Japan) and has factories and offices in Europe, US, China, Taiwan, Korea and Singapore. JSR is a research-oriented organization that pursues close collaborations with leading innovators in a number of industries that are a key to the present and future welfare of human society: life-sciences, energy storage, synthetic rubbers, electronic materials, display and optical materials. For more information about JSR Corporation, please go to www.jsr.co.jp.
E2 Initiative
Named after the two initiatives it comprises, Eco-innovation and Energy Management, the E2 Initiative shows the outlook of JSR's Group-wide effort to create value on both aggressive fronts, such as the development of environmentally-friendly products, and defensive fronts, such as CO2 emission reductions at Group plants.