Allium announced a $3.25M Seed round on March 13, 2024, and was featured in an article written by Katie Fehrenbacher of Axios Pro. For the Axios article: https://www.axios.com/pro/climate-deals/2024/03/13/allium-venture-round-steel-tech Allium's press release:

Allium Engineering raises $3.25M Seed round to strengthen infrastructure and reduce emissions

Funding will catalyze new manufacturing for more sustainable steel products

Somerville, Massachusetts, March 13, 2024 Allium Engineering, an MIT spinout, announced a $3.25 million seed funding round to expand manufacturing of a longer lasting, sustainable form of steel. The round was led by Propeller with participation from Aera VC, Greatwave Ventures, and Anthropocene Ventures. Allium plans to use the funding to produce more than a thousand tons of stainless clad rebar within the next two years and to enable the construction of longer lasting bridges and other more resilient infrastructure across the United States.

“We’re thrilled to be supporting Allium. Steve and Sam are building a critical innovation for infrastructure generally, but especially for coastal roads and bridges known to corrode in salty environments,” said Steven Fox who led the investment for Propeller. “Allium’s stainless clad rebar will be key for longer-lasting, critical infrastructure upgrades to face our rapidly changing climate.” This funding aims to catalyze a new manufacturing facility capable of producing tons of stainless cladded steel each day. Allium is building this facility in Boston, Massachusetts, and plans to bring it online in July 2024. With this first-of-a-kind capability, Allium will continue working with its domestic steel partners to fulfill orders across the U.S., with planned projects in Florida, California, Virginia, and Indiana. This includes the construction or repair of several major bridges owned by the State Departments of Transportation, along with a range of other structures like tunnels, sea walls, and roads. “There are more than two hundred thousand U.S. bridges needing major repair according to official 2023 scorecards,” said Steve Jepeal, Allium cofounder and CEO. “We all want longer lasting, more resilient infrastructure, but first we need better performing, cost-effective materials that can integrate seamlessly into our existing steel and construction industries.” 

This fundraise builds off the recent success Allium had in demonstrating its manufacturing process at industrial scale. In partnership with a domestic steel mill, Allium has produced tons of stainless clad rebar within an established steel manufacturing facility, and that product has met all the requirements for commercial sale according to an existing industry standard, AASHTO M 329M. Allium anticipates the first major installations of its stainless clad rebar this year, including a planned bridge construction in Walton County, Florida and a planned sea wall in Key West, Florida.

This technology promises a profound impact on the longevity of infrastructure including bridges, ports, roads, tunnels, and offshore wind platforms. Allium’s stainless clad rebar can more than triple the lifetime of major components of a bridge, from 30 years or fewer to greater than 100 years. In doing so, that rebar can also avoid twenty-times its weight in carbon emissions from avoided consumption of concrete and steel.

Allium Engineering was founded by Steven Jepeal and Samuel McAlpine, who began developing the technology as Ph.D. candidates at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jepeal and McAlpine were able to spin the technology out of the university in 2022, with wide ranging support from a number of programs including: The Activate Fellowship,  MIT’s Venture Mentoring Service, Greentown Labs; grants from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, The National Science Foundation, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program; and early investment from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, Suffolk Technologies, and The Heritage Group. 

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About Allium Engineering 

Allium Engineering is a climate-technology startup focused on solving critical challenges with the durability and sustainability of our infrastructure. Allium is working to change the way that steel is manufactured to enable it to resist corrosion with an innovative stainless steel cladding process. This technology promises to more than triple the lifetime of key infrastructure like bridges, all while avoiding emissions from two of the world’s largest CO2 sources, steel and concrete production. To learn more about Allium’s technology and vision for a more sustainable world, visit www.alliumeng.com. Allium is currently hiring for 3 roles: 

1. A technician and operator role, who would operate robotic cladding equipment to manufacture Allium’s stainless clad steel;

2. A business development role, who would work within the construction and civil engineering industry to build awareness about Allium’s stainless clad rebar; and

3. A engineering operations role, who would enable operational success in Allium’s manufacturing facility and with its suppliers and partners

For more information about these roles, visit https://www.alliumeng.com/team. To submit a resume, email jobs@alliumeng.com Allium and its partners are now offering the only stainless clad rebar product that meets the specifications for the AASHTO M 329M standard. For more information about this stainless clad rebar product, email rebar@alliumeng.com

Media Contact:

Steven Jepeal

Founder/CEO steve@alliumeng.com