Kuraray Co. (Tokyo) has decided to acquire Nelumbo Inc. (Hayward, Calif.), a company that has developed a unique materials technology for surface modification. The purchase price has not been disclosed.
Nelumbo was founded in 2016 as a technology start-up out of University of California, Berkeley and has been exploring the application and practical use of various substrate surface modification technologies. In 2023, Kuraray entered into an Exclusive Partnership Agreement with Nelumbo and have been working together to apply the surface modification technology to fibers and other polymer products.
Through this collaboration, Kuraray evaluated Nelumbo’s technology and concluded that it has excellent potential to improve the functionality of substrate surfaces on a wide range of substrates, including water repellency, without using PFAS and other chemicals that are increasingly regulated.
This technology will enhance and expand to Kuraray’s base of polymer chemistry, synthetic chemistry, and related peripheral technologies and provide new value to the market.