Exclusive: Mattiq raises $15M for nano-sized materials testing

Mattiq, a Chicago-based materials discovery, testing and analytics startup, raised a $15 million seed round.

Why it matters: Energy and chemicals companies partner with Mattiq to test materials on atomic or nano levels.

Details: Material Impact led the all-equity round. The VC's co-founder and managing partner, Carmichael Roberts, is joining Mattiq's board.

• Kairos Ventures and CS Ventures participated. Mattiq declined to disclose a valuation.

Of note: The "tiq" in Mattiq is pronounced "teak," not "tick."

• The company was formerly known as Stoicheia.

Zoom in: The round closed in July. Mattiq held off on announcing as it went through its facelift.

• It hired Jeff Erhardt as CEO. Erhardt was previously EVP for intelligent systems and industrial AI at GE.
• He succeeds founder Chad Mirkin, who was chairman while the company was in stealth mode. 

What's happening: "It's orders of magnitude faster in massively parallel fashion than can be done at the status quo today," Erhardt tells Axios.

• The company's work also involves materials discovery, such as identifying catalysts to replace iridium used in green hydrogen production.

How it works: Mattiq's business model is similar to biotech companies that partner with big pharmaceutical manufacturers.

• "We enter a joint development process where we focus on the materials and the process — for example, the conversion of CO2 into a chemical or fuel," Erhardt says.
• "Then we work alongside the incumbent players to scale that and take it into a market."