Arris Secures $48.5M Series B to Accelerate Mass Production of High-Performance Carbon Fiber Products

Berkeley, Calif. — Arris, the pioneer of next-generation composites, today announces $48.5M in series B funding. Arris will be expanding its proprietary composite manufacturing capabilities and opening facilities in the U.S. and Taiwan, the latter to serve the demand of the consumer electronics industry.

The round was led by Taiwania Capital with participation from return investor New Enterprise Associates (NEA), which led Arris’s $10M Series A round in January 2019, alongside Valo Ventures and Alumni Ventures Group (AVG).

Carl Bass, former Autodesk CEO, will join the board of directors as an independent board member. Carl has been involved with Arris since 2017 as an angel investor, advisor and research collaborator while the company incubated in his personal machine shop.

“Since we began working with Arris in 2018, we’ve been impressed with the maturation of their manufacturing technology and the intense interest and enthusiasm we’ve seen from top brands in the consumer, automotive, aerospace and other industries in leveraging Arris’ manufacturing methods for next-gen, not-yet-released products,” explains Greg Papadopoulos, Venture Partner, NEA and former Chief Technology Officer, Sun Microsystems. “High-performance composites that can be mass-produced in new ways hold incredible promise for all kinds of products.”

Founded in 2017, Arris enables the mass-production of high-strength and light-weight composite parts through its proprietary Additive Molding™ manufacturing technology. With this new process, advanced carbon fiber materials can be produced at the same speed as plastic molded products. To unlock the potential for customers, Arris has developed unique tools for in-house design collaboration and application engineering teams. Now customers can design and produce previously impossible products that are highly integrated and stronger and lighter than metals.

Arris’s technology has wide applications across multiple markets where new product designs and architectures are now possible. Customers in consumer, automotive, industrial, aerospace, and transportation industries are advancing programs to take advantage of the revolutionary capabilities to make products lighter, stronger and smarter. Industrial and automotive applications seek corrosion-proof, high-strength and durable glass fiber and carbon fiber structures. And top consumer and sporting goods brands are seeking new commercial advantages by elevating product performance and differentiation.

The fastest-growing market for Arris is consumer electronics, where next-gen devices are being designed to be lighter, smaller and smarter. With a short product refresh cycle and fast pace of innovation, a portable electronic device is likely to be the first Arris manufactured product available to the public.

“What made Arris appealing to us is their ability to make consumer electronics products that were simply not possible with previous manufacturing technologies,” said Huang Lee, Managing Partner at Taiwania Capital and Arris Board Member. “Despite major advances in the electronics within portable devices, the structures have not changed very much, until Arris.”

Composites have a history of major reductions in fuel consumption due to their light weight; however, recyclability has been a problem. Arris employs a new generation of recyclable composites and has developed a novel method of designing products with the end in mind so the waste stream from today’s products becomes the feedstock for future products.

Arris is the pioneer of next-gen composites for mass-market applications, including aerospace, automotive and consumer products. Founded in 2017 by manufacturing veterans, Ethan Escowitz, Riley Reese and Erick Davidson, Arris develops continuous carbon fiber composites that can be combined with other materials in a high-speed process that combines 3D printing and traditional high-volume manufacturing. For information, visit arriscomposites.com.

Taiwania Capital is a venture capital firm founded in 2017 with funding support from the Government of Taiwan that manages two funds, totaling $350 million, focused on emerging technology and early-stage biomedical companies. Taiwania Capital aims to strengthen companies’ connections through an expanded network of value-adding partners and bridge the collaboration between Taiwan and the world. For information, visit taiwaniacapital.com.

New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) is a global venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors and geographies. With nearly $24 billion in cumulative committed capital since the firm’s founding in 1977, NEA invests in technology and healthcare companies at all stages in a company’s lifecycle, from seed stage through IPO. The firm’s long track record of successful investing includes more than 230 portfolio company IPOs and more than 390 mergers and acquisitions. www.nea.com.

Valo is a mission-driven venture capital firm, investing in a brighter future by championing innovative digital technology companies that create economic value as well as long-term social and environmental benefits. Based in Palo Alto, we are a passionate, experienced team focused on five global megatrends—climate change, empowered users, autonomy and mobility, urbanization and the circular economy. For more information, visit www.valoventures.org.

Alumni-centric venture fund comprised of leaders from top universities with deep ties to students, alumni and professors. LP capital pools are associated with specific universities and investments are focused on high-potential student-founded companies. Spike Ventures, the AVG branch composed of Stanford alumni, led this investment. Joining Spike Ventures were seven sibling funds across the AVG network of funds including Strawberry Creek Ventures (UC Berkeley), Green D Ventures (Dartmouth), Nassau Street Ventures (Princeton), Purple Arch Ventures (Northwestern), Chestnut Street Ventures (Penn), Blue Ivy Ventures (Yale), and Congress Ave Ventures (UT Austin).