AeroShield
AeroShield is a venture-backed MIT spinout that develops ultra-clear silica aerogel sheets sold B2B to window and door manufacturers, enabling standard double-pane IGUs to achieve triple-pane thermal performance for energy-efficient residential and commercial buildings.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2019
- HeadquartersCambridge, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What AeroShield does
AeroShield Materials, Inc. is a venture-backed materials science company founded in 2019 as a spinout of MIT, developing and scaling ultra-clear silica aerogel sheets for use in energy-efficient windows, doors, and skylights. The proprietary technology, invented by CEO Dr. Elise Strobach, achieves greater than 98% visible transmittance and thermal conductivity below 13 mW/mK, enabling standard double-pane windows to reach triple-pane thermal performance (center-of-glass U-values of 0.13–0.16) while remaining 40% thinner and lighter. Manufacturing uses industrial-scale critical point dryers — including a 25-ton, 10-foot-long unit commissioned in January 2025 — to produce aerogel sheets large enough for residential windows, entry doors, and patio doors.
The company operates a 12,000-square-foot pilot manufacturing facility in Waltham, Massachusetts, with a team of 30+ including MIT PhD founders and senior process engineering talent recruited from Aspen Aerogels. AeroShield sells exclusively B2B to window and door manufacturers and IGU fabricators under a channel-partner model, supplying aerogel-coated glass that OEMs incorporate into their own branded products — partners include ODL, Inc. for entry and patio doors and Alpen High Performance Products for retrofit window inserts. Revenue is generated through hardware sales of aerogel-coated glass to manufacturing partners, with potential additional licensing of the patented transparent aerogel technology for adjacent applications.
The company has raised approximately $27–30M cumulatively across a $4M seed round (November 2022), a $5M round led by MassMutual Ventures with MassCEC and MassVentures (July 2024), a $14.5M ARPA-E SCALEUP award (June 2024), and numerous non-dilutive grants from NSF (Phase I and Phase II SBIR), Wells Fargo IN2/NREL, DOE American Made Solar Prize, MassVentures START, and others. Commercial product launches with ODL are targeted for end of 2026, and AeroShield's glazing became the first aerogel product ever listed in the industry-standard International Glazing Database in May 2026.
AeroShield firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- AeroShield
- Legal name
- AeroShield Materials, Inc.
- Website
- https://aeroshield.tech
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2019
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- AeroShield is a venture-backed MIT spinout that develops ultra-clear silica aerogel sheets sold B2B to window and door manufacturers, enabling standard double-pane IGUs to achieve triple-pane thermal performance for energy-efficient residential and commercial buildings.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
AeroShield industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Building Materials — Advanced Aerogel Insulation
- NAICS
- Glass and Glass Product Manufacturing (32721)
- SIC
- Glass Products, Made Of Purchased Glass (3231)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Aerogel & Vacuum Insulation Panels (VIPs) (IMADAGAG)
Keywords
Where AeroShield is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Cambridge
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
AeroShield business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- Aerogel-Coated Glass Sales to Manufacturers: AeroShield sells aerogel-coated glass insulation material to window and door manufacturers (IGU fabricators) who incorporate the technology into their own branded window and door products. Revenue is generated through product sales to B2B partners rather than direct consumer sales.
- Technology Licensing: Potential for licensing the patented transparent aerogel technology to manufacturers for integration into various applications including windows, doors, skylights, and other specialized applications.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | B2B pricing through direct manufacturer partnerships |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels5 records
AeroShield product offering
Product offeringCore offering
AeroShield develops and manufactures ultra-clear silica aerogel sheets that are bonded to glass for use in windows, doors, and skylights. The company sells aerogel-coated glass material to window and door manufacturers (IGU fabricators) who integrate the technology into their own branded products, enabling standard double-pane windows to achieve triple-pane or better thermal performance at double-pane thickness and weight. The company produces aerogel sheets at its 12,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in Waltham, MA, including a 25-ton critical point dryer.
Product overview
AeroShield is a materials science company that has developed and scaled the world's most transparent silica aerogels, originally invented at MIT. The company's core product is transparent silica aerogel sheets that can be bonded to glass and incorporated into window and door products by manufacturing partners. The aerogel enables standard double-pane windows to achieve triple-pane thermal performance while being thinner and lighter. The product portfolio includes: (1) Transparent Silica Aerogel Sheets - the core material technology sold to window/door manufacturers; (2) Aerogel-Insulated Glass Units - laminated glass and IGUs incorporating the aerogel for windows; (3) Aerogel-Insulated Entry/Patio Door Products - full-size aerogel glass for doors, developed with ODL; and (4) Retrofit Window Solution - aerogel component for Alpen's Winsert/WinSert Plus window inserts. The company operates a pilot manufacturing facility in Waltham, MA and targets 2026 for full commercial product launches.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Transparent Silica Aerogel Sheets
- Aerogel-Insulated Glass Units (IGUs)
- Aerogel-Insulated Entry and Patio Door Products
- Aerogel-Insulated Window Retrofit Solution AeroShield aerogel insulated glass configured as a component for Alpen's Winsert and WinSert Plus secondary window inserts, designed for installation over underperforming windows in existing buildings without full window replacement.
Quantifiable outcome
- Up to 65% improvement in thermal efficiency when incorporating AeroShield into double-pane windows
- +7 more outcomes
Companies that use AeroShield
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
AeroShield technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
AeroShield partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.
- Alpen High Performance ProductscoreAeroShield's aerogel insulated glass being tested as component of Alpen's Winsert and WinSert Plus secondary window inserts for the retrofit market. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory conducting thermal performance testing using infrared thermography. This partnership targets the billions of square feet of existing buildings with outdated window technologies that can benefit from retrofit solutions without full window replacement.
- ODL, Inc.coreAeroShield partnered with ODL, an established leader in high-quality door and doorglass solutions headquartered in Zeeland, Michigan, to create the next generation of high-performance entry and patio door products. ODL is completing NFRC certification testing on hundreds of aerogel-insulated doors and windows in various sizes, including full-view 22" x 64" doorglass. Products expected to be commercially available by end of 2026. ODL exhibited aerogel-insulated units at the 2025 NAHB International Builders' Show.
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)coreLBNL conducting thermal performance testing using infrared thermography on AeroShield-enabled window configurations. LBNL's WINDOW software used for modeling AeroShield-enabled IGU configurations. Long-standing R&D collaboration for testing aerogel-insulated windows and conducting advanced performance/durability testing.
- University of MichigansupportingAeroShield partnering with University of Michigan and ForgeNano to develop manufacturing strategy for novel aerogel material. Project aims to show aerogel can enhance efficiency of solar-thermal energy collection at 700°C for parabolic trough collectors. Project provides ~$600k towards aerogel R&D.
- ActivatesupportingFounders Elise Strobach and Kyle Wilke accepted into 2-year Activate fellowship program with 26 other fellows in 2020 cohort. Activate is a philanthropic organization supporting climate technology startups with fellows raising $2.4B in follow-on funding.
- Greentown LabssupportingAeroShield joined Greentown Labs incubator space in Somerville, MA. Greentown Labs is the largest cleantech incubator in North America with 100,000 sq. ft. campus including prototyping/wet lab space, machine shop, electronics lab. Greentown Launch program with Saint-Gobain and MassCEC selected AeroShield for Healthy Buildings Challenge.
Scale indicators10 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights6 records
AeroShield competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Aspen Aerogels: Aspen Aerogels (NYSE: ASPN) is the leading publicly traded aerogel manufacturer, producing Pyrogel and Cryogel insulation products for industrial, energy, and building applications. Directly comparable to AeroShield as the only other scaled aerogel manufacturer in the US; AeroShield's senior process engineer Harold Klei spent 8 years at Aspen, evidencing technology overlap, though Aspen focuses on opaque industrial insulation rather than transparent window applications.
- Svensk Aerogel: Svensk Aerogel (Nasdaq Stockholm: AERO-B) is a European aerogel manufacturer commercializing Quartzene for insulation, coatings, and construction applications. Comparable as a publicly traded aerogel specialist targeting building/construction end markets, though Quartzene is not transparent and is sold as additive/powder rather than transparent sheets.
Emerging players
- Aerogel Technologies: Aerogel Technologies is a private US company developing monolithic and flexible aerogel products for aerospace, defense, and industrial insulation. Comparable as a peer aerogel startup with overlapping core chemistry expertise, though AeroShield's focus on transparency for windows is differentiated from Aerogel Technologies' opaque panels and PyroThin products.
- View, Inc. View (formerly View Dynamic Glass) manufactures smart electrochromic windows for commercial buildings that dynamically tint to control solar gain. Comparable as a high-performance window technology company selling B2B to commercial real estate, architects, and developers; competes for the same specification-driven energy-efficiency premium but solves the problem with dynamic tinting rather than static insulation.
- Enova Innovations: Enova Innovations develops high-performance transparent insulation technologies for architectural and specialty applications. Comparable as a niche competitor pursuing transparent insulation for similar building envelope use cases, although Enova's technology mix and product forms differ from AeroShield's silica aerogel sheets.
Broad incumbents
- Cabot Corporation: Cabot Corporation (NYSE: CBT) is a global specialty chemicals and performance materials company that produces fumed silica and has historically manufactured aerogel products (Cabot Lumira aerogel). Comparable as a large, diversified materials company with aerogel manufacturing capability and global building materials customer base that could leverage incumbency to enter transparent aerogel for windows.
- Saint-Gobain: Saint-Gobain is a global building materials leader producing glass (including SageGlass smart windows), insulation, and high-performance facades. Comparable as both a potential OEM partner for AeroShield (Greentown Labs Healthy Buildings Challenge collaborator) and a potential competitor with the scale, R&D budget, and customer relationships to develop or acquire transparent aerogel alternatives.
- NSG Group (Pilkington): NSG Group owns the Pilkington glass brand and is one of the world's largest float glass manufacturers serving architectural and automotive markets. Comparable as a potential IGU/OEM customer for AeroShield's aerogel coating and as a deep-pocketed incumbent that could vertically integrate competing transparent insulation technology for high-performance glazing.
- Guardian Glass: Guardian Glass is one of the world's largest manufacturers of float glass, coated glass, and fabricated glass products for architectural and residential applications. Comparable as a major OEM/IGU fabricator customer base for AeroShield and as an incumbent with significant R&D investment in high-performance glazing that could develop competing solutions.
- Cardinal Glass Industries: Cardinal Glass Industries is a major US-based manufacturer of residential and commercial glass products, including high-performance insulating glass units. Comparable as a key potential OEM customer and as an incumbent with vertically integrated glass manufacturing that could partner with or compete against AeroShield in energy-efficient glazing.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks2 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
AeroShield social profiles
Digital presenceAeroShield financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
AeroShield leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles9 records
AeroShield funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds13 records
Investors10 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
AeroShield M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about AeroShield
What does AeroShield do?
AeroShield develops and manufactures ultra-clear silica aerogel sheets that are bonded to glass for use in windows, doors, and skylights. The company sells aerogel-coated glass material to window and door manufacturers (IGU fabricators) who integrate the technology into their own branded products, enabling standard double-pane windows to achieve triple-pane or better thermal performance at double-pane thickness and weight. The company produces aerogel sheets at its 12,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in Waltham, MA, including a 25-ton critical point dryer.
Is AeroShield a public or private company?
AeroShield is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was AeroShield founded?
AeroShield was founded in 2019. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is AeroShield based?
AeroShield is headquartered in Cambridge, United States, in the North America region.
How does AeroShield make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Aerogel-Coated Glass Sales to Manufacturers are the primary driver. The others are technology Licensing.
Who are AeroShield's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Aspen Aerogels and Svensk Aerogel. Emerging players are Aerogel Technologies, View, Inc. and Enova Innovations. Broad incumbents are Cabot Corporation, Saint-Gobain, NSG Group (Pilkington), Guardian Glass and Cardinal Glass Industries.
Does AeroShield have an API?
No public API is recorded for AeroShield.
What industry is AeroShield in?
AeroShield's product category is Building Materials — Advanced Aerogel Insulation. Its primary akta.pro industry code is IMADAGAG, Aerogel & Vacuum Insulation Panels (VIPs). Its NAICS code is 32721 and its SIC code is 3231.