United States. INX International Ink completes an investment in DetraPel, an advanced materials company that manufactures sustainable coatings. This represents the fourth deal closed since the $50 million INX Venture Capital investment program was established in 2022.
DetraPel is the parent company of the ProofPlus consumer division and Impermea Materials, its recently renamed industrial arm. Impermea Materials is an advanced materials company offering solutions to drive the next generation of PFAS and plastic-free innovation.
The solutions promise extraordinary performance for ordinary materials through unique molecules. For example, paper and board packaging solutions offer a variety of substrate technologies, such as oil and grease resistance (OGR), moisture vapor transmission barriers (MTVR), adhesives, nonstick coatings, and more.
These water-based plastic alternatives are FDA (A-H) compliant, heat-sealable, and preserve substrate flexibility and foldability.
"Since our inception a decade ago, we have been developing PFAS-free (100% fluoride-free) water-based chemicals that outperform their fluoridated counterparts," said David Zamarin, founder and CEO of DetraPel.
"For brands looking to accelerate the transition to safe solutions and achieve performance goals, our team at Impermea works directly with manufacturing teams to eliminate chemicals and plastics without sacrificing daily product performance and create new efficiencies throughout their supply chain," added Zamarín.
INX plans to leverage its technical expertise and commercialization capabilities to support the adoption of sustainable barrier coatings by brands and packaging converters. DetraPel's investment focuses on paper- and fiber-based packaging and complements Sakata INX's Ecostage GB-XA oxygen barrier coatings, a film offering introduced to the market earlier this year.
"Sakata INX develops several functional coating agents, but through this collaboration with DetraPel, we expect market traction to progress more rapidly," said Katsuya Tanaka, General Manager of International Corporate Planning Operations at Sakata INX.
"INX's corporate risk program represents an expansion of Sakata's innovation toolkit. It furthers our mission to lead the printing inks and coatings industry in delivering safe and sustainable solutions that care for the earth and address societal issues for a better, more colorful future.
"Impermea Materials' thinking strategy and advanced materials offering are closely aligned with our goals and ideology and make this partnership a good fit," Tanaka added.
"Both INX and Impermea Materials serve the paper and board packaging markets with a commitment to sustainable solutions," said Shane Bertsch, senior vice president of strategic planning and innovation at INX.
"We consider DetraPel's product offering to be highly complementary and are excited to partner to accelerate the commercialization of sustainable barrier coating solutions," he concluded.
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