AEB's e-beams attract $14M for sustainable packaging

Wilmington, Mass.-based Advanced Electron Beams (AEB) said today it closed a $14.2 million Series C round, bringing the company’s total raised to more than $50 million. The company’s CEO Mitch Tyson told the Cleantech Group he’s hoping the infusion will get the cash-flow negative company to break even.

The funding is expected to help AEB increase sales in the sustainable packaging markets and develop new uses for its electron beam (e-beam) technology. The company develops and makes compact e-beams that help traditional manufacturers to be more environmentally sustainable.

Today’s round was led by Flagship Ventures and included existing investors General Electric, Atlas Venture, General Catalyst Partners, RockPort Capital Partners, and Agman Partners.

Tyson said his company is making waves in energy efficiency's lesser-known industrial sector, as opposed to green building or transportation. The company’s technology serves as a replacement for traditional thermal and chemical processes by using e-beam emitters that harness electrons to enable cleaner, less expensive and more efficient production.

E-beams have been around a long time, but are large, often 10 feet by 20 feet. Tyson said his company has been able to shrink that by a factor of 100. The emitters, which can initiate chemical reactions or break chemical bonds, come in 10-inch and 16-inch models. They can produce beams in a variety of desired widths and are small enough to be directed in many angles. 

AEB’s emitters are used in processes such as sterilization, curing, polymer treatment and pollution abatement across industries including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, food and beverage, printing, packaging, industrial coatings, and plastics manufacturing.

In terms of efficiency, Tyson said an e-beam uses 20 percent of the energy needed for a furnace without generating pollutants. As another example, he said the e-beam offers efficiencies for a company that sterilizes bottles because AEB's process doesn't require water or chemicals.

AEB is working with 12 original equipment manufacturers at various design stages, as well as 50 customers—19 of which are Fortune 1,000 companies. AEB has shipped 200 of its e-beams worldwide, mainly in the United States, Europe and Japan. However, the only customer Tyson could disclose is Baxter, a health care and pharmaceutical company using AEB’s system to sterilize a new drug delivery device.

AEB also hopes to use today’s funding to develop its technology for the air pollution control space, where companies could use the e-beam instead of burning pollutants.

Tyson said the company is also developing a new, even smaller emitter, with a more narrow nozzle. The product is expected to be introduced in September.

“No one has been able to do that up until this point,” Tyson said.

The relationship between AEB and GE goes beyond today’s capital. AEB’s technology has been deployed at GE’s Global Research Center, where GE has identified several applications for other GE businesses.

GE’s participation in today’s round follows a $4 million investment in AEB in September of last year (see GE endorses electron-emitter technology and Bill Gates gets slimed).

Tyson—also an executive member and founder of the New England Clean Energy Council—is to be a featured speaker on an Industrial Energy Efficiency panel as part of the Cleantech Group’s Cleantech Forum® XXIII in Boston, Sept. 8-10 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Click here for details.