For this Company Spotlight, we interviewed NanoTech’s CEO and Co-Founder, Mike Francis, about how the company is revolutionizing the fireproofing and insulation industries. NanoTech is a material science company focused on fireproofing and insulation technologies. Their proprietary technologies can fireproof with their existing coating systems or be used as an additive into traditional building materials. For more information on NanoTech, please visit www.thenanoshield.com.

Background: In 2019, Mike Francis’ business partner demonstrated to him a fireproofing technology that was applied to a piece of Styrofoam and subsequently torched with a high intensity flame. The coated Styrofoam came out unscathed, neither smoking nor charred. Mike was so impressed that he was immediately interested in partnering with him, and they started putting together a business plan. In July 2020, NanoTech became the first participant of Halliburton Labs, a technology accelerator focusing on advancing cleaner, affordable energy solutions. In December 2020, NanoTech raised its seed round of $5MM financing led by Ecliptic Capital to continue to scale the business.

Value Proposition: NanoTech’s advanced technology, the Nano Shield, has been proven to provide superior fireproofing and insulating properties to the incumbent materials due to it having the following characteristics:

High Emissivity: The Nano Shield molecule reflects .94 of the heat that is introduced to it, acting like a mirror and therefore deflecting the vast majority of the heat away. The material will also improve thermal cycles – reflecting the energy back into the source.
Low Thermal Conductivity: The Nano Shield’s thermal conductivity value (k-value) is 0.017 W/Mk, making it one of the lowest in the world, and enabling the 6% of heat that is not deflected to quickly dissipate from the material.
Non-Toxic: The Nano Shield contains no volatile organic compounds (VOCs), nor does it produce any smoke or toxicity when being applied or when exposed to flames.
Application Flexibility: The Nano Shield is offered as a coating that can be easily applied to any surface or as an additive that can be embedded into a large variety of materials.
Minimal Thickness: At just 3mm thickness, the coating will fireproof to 1,800° C and is not time dependent if the temperature stays below 1,800° C. It also insulates at an R3 per mm on average.

End Use Applications: While NanoTech’s offering can be applied into numerous industries, the company is currently focusing on addressing the following applications:

Energy Utilities: Fiberglass and wood utility poles are exposed to significant wildfire risks. The Nano Shield has passed multiple wildfire tests, is proven to be fireproof up to 1,800°C, and can be easily sprayed on to the assets with little to no surface prep.
Oil & Gas: The Nano Shield is being fully qualified for offshore operations, which enables offshore operators to replace metallic equipment that is prone to corrosion with composite materials that can be easily coated, minimizing maintenance expenses.
Chemical and Industrial: In fire-prone areas of critical facilities, the Nano Shield produces virtually no smoke, has minimal flame spread, and acts as a fire barrier, which helps contain fires when they do happen.
Construction: NanoTech’s additive can be mixed into drywall, fiberglass, paints, resins, polymers, and plastics to add fireproofing and insulating properties that significantly outperform the leading incumbent technologies.

Closing Thoughts: With the money raised in its seed round, NanoTech plans to substantially expand its production capacity to meet rising demand for its products. We look forward to following NanoTech and seeing how the Nano Shield will continue to change how different sectors, such as battery storage, approach fireproofing and insulation.

Company Spotlights

June 2021