Chemical StartUps Series #3: Imagine Intelligent Materials

Please introduce the value proposition of your company. How will your company disrupt or dramatically change how things are currently done?

Imagine is building what will become one of the leading Internet of Industrial Materials companies in the world. We understand that it is not enough to engineer products that contain graphene. Our vision is to lead the development of industrial sensing materials using graphene, enabling end users to access information on structural integrity of buildings, roads, dams, and other valuable assets in real time.

Imagine has developed the ability to extract data from materials inexpensively, powered at the edge. This is a major break-through. Imagine's approach means that the benefits of sensing can be realised in numerous new areas of application and new forms of revenue can be generated (such as Sensing as a Service).

We license our solutions to manufacturers who are market leaders in any given territory, we have low marketing and customer acquisition costs. Our licensees have established paths to market and customers. Our products are designed to enhance their product offerings, and to enable them to sell value added products to their customers with higher selling prices and margins. This means improved return on capital invested for them and for us. Our opportunities come from identifying industry needs that we can solve more economically and developing new disruptive solutions.

Graphene is the world’s first two-dimensional supermaterial. It is stronger than steel, harder than diamond, impermeable to all gases. It is hydrophobic (meaning that it repels water), almost transparent, and is the most electrically conductive material known to man.

Imagine's first licensing agreement was with the largest Geotextiles company in Australasia, Geofabrics Australasia Pty Ltd), with over 50 % market share. Imagine’s initial market entry is in making smart geotextiles for civil engineering and infrastructure. Geotextiles are a necessary component of construction. We believe that this industry alone will consume hundreds of tonnes of graphene each year by the mid 2020's. The same technology developed by Imagine for geosynthetics is relevant in other markets too. We are developing sensing textiles that will communicate information from floors of trains and houses, seats of cars, roofs of buildings, from under roads, and from bridges and tunnels.

Who are your customers and how large is the addressable market for your products/services?

Imagine established its initial market in the geosynthetics market in 2017. With many 100’s of thousands of square meters of electrically conductive and sensing geotextile sold to Australian mining and waste management sites. This market is slowly expanding, and growth is forecast in the USA and Europe, with Asia following. The geosynthetic market is a 7 billion m2 per annum market.

Based on this sensing platform technology, Imagine has developed proofs of concept in smart flooring, automotive seating, leak location for roofs and concrete strain detection. Each market vertical is a multi-billion dollar opportunity. 

How scalable do you believe your company is?

As a licensing-based platform technology, Imagine has been specifically established as an infinitely scalable company. Each application of the technology is treated as a market vertical and typically, licensees are global companies. By developing the three key aspects of the technology - graphene materials, electrical signal processing equipment and the signal processing algorithms that run on the hardware and in the cloud - Imagine can license and partner various parts of the technology into each market vertical supply chain without compromising the value of the technology whilst satisfying the need for supply-chain integrity for each licensee.

Key to Imagine’s expansion is the ability to adapt to multiple market verticals. To do this Imagine is building business development teams in multiple geographies to support market expansion. Technical expertise is focused in Australia, where the materials science originated and in Finland where an electronics and signal processing team was founded in 2018. 

Can you summarize the journey of your company up to this point?

Imagine Intelligent Materials Ltd was founded in 2014 in Sydney, Australia. Coming from diverse backgrounds in material sciences, signals processing and business, the founders of Imagine have built their vision on a singular approach - to deliver infinitely scalable sensing systems using graphene and enabling every part of the built environment to communicate effortlessly. By making the built environment smarter, unlocking the potential of massive productivity gains in multiple sectors becomes a reality.

Imagine develops sensing solutions that deliver valuable data from large surface areas in buildings, infrastructure and transportation and can be manufactured at scale. These integrate Imagine’s proprietary conductive graphene coatings together with Imagine’s signals processing expertise in hardware and software. The target commercialisation partners are leading global companies in construction and building materials, mining services and transportation. Imagine’s revenues are generated from technology licensing, sales of graphene coatings and data services.

Imagine is well advanced on our mission as we have already built the first commercial graphene manufacturing plant in Australia, pioneered the development of conductive graphene coatings as well as introduced the first successful leak detection geotextiles based on Imagine’s graphene technology - imgne? X3. Further, a first integrated sensing solution prototype for footstep monitoring was introduced early this year based on imgne? Visible?, a sensing technology platform based on graphene. 

What is pivotal for your success going forward?

Right now, Imagine is focused on securing a second license with a globally leading company in one of the target market verticals. Once this is established Imagine will have the revenue to begin a rapid expansion, fund the technology development to the point where it can be rapidly adapted to many commercial opportunities. 

Can you provide some KPIs that helps understand the size and growth of your company?

Imagine has recently been valued at US$25 million and has revenues in excess of $1m per year. Our 15 employees are predominately in Australia (Sydney, Melbourne and Geelong) with Imagine Intelligent Materials Oy (Finland) established in 2018 and has 6 employees. A subsidiary has been established in the USA anticipating rapid growth in North America.

How can strategic partners from the chemical industry or financial investors contribute to your success?

Imagine is closing a series Seed round by the end of 2019 and will likely go to a Series A in 2020. Our business model is predicated on global partnerships with strategic licensees wishing to add value to their existing business. 

Who is the primary point of contact for investors and strategic partners?

• Chris Gilbey
• CEO
• [email protected]
• +61 414 223 763
• www.imgne.com
• https://www.dhirubhai.net/company/imgne
• https://www.facebook.com/imgneIM/
• https://twitter.com/imgneIM

Disclaimer: The sole responsibility for this content is with the company profiled.

If you would like to profile your Chemical StartUp in this series, please reach out to [email protected]