What Clear Carbon & Components does

Clear Carbon and Components (C3) is a private composite manufacturer founded in 1995 by Matt Dunham, operating from a 15,000 square foot facility in Bristol, Rhode Island. The company designs and fabricates high-end composite components on a custom, project-by-project basis for industrial, defense, transportation, aerospace, marine, musical instrument, renewable energy, and architectural customers. Its technical foundation rests on a broad process library that includes VARTM (Vacuum Assist Resin Transfer Molding), Light RTM, pre-preg compression molding, wet lay-up epoxy vacuum molding, and two proprietary processes — Contoured Composite Tubing (CCT) for complex 3D tubular structures and Contoured Pultrusion Process (CPP) for solid and hollow composite shapes such as springs. The company holds AS9100 (achieved 2019) and ISO 9001-2015 certifications, qualifying it for aerospace and defense work, and operates 3-axis and 5-axis CNC machining integrated with SolidWorks and Mastercam for in-house tooling and prototyping.

The business model is project-based custom manufacturing sold directly to manufacturers and wholesale distributors, with no standardized product pricing and no public e-commerce channel. All sales flow through direct engagement led by founder Matt Dunham, and the company takes projects through every phase from design to commercial production. Revenue is generated from named programs including the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center's WavTrac expeditionary matting system, Comanche Racing Yacht stringers and structural components, Luis & Clark carbon fiber musical instruments, Aeromine Technologies' bladeless wind turbine prototype, Eastern Wind Power vertical axis turbines, and forged carbon components for Walt Siegl Motorcycles and David Yurman's Carbon Moto brand. The company is founder-owned with no external investment, no parent company, and a leadership team consisting of Matt Dunham (Founder), Mike Donahue (General Manager/Operations Manager, with the company since 2001), and Ben Quay (Engineering Manager). Headcount is in the 11–50 range and the company has no subsidiaries, no disclosed M&A history, and no funding events on record.

Name

Clear Carbon & Components

Legal name

Clear Carbon and Components, Inc.

Website

https://clearcarbon.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Clear Carbon and Components is a private custom composite manufacturer founded in 1995, operating from Bristol, Rhode Island, producing high-end carbon fiber components on a project basis for aerospace, defense, marine, transportation, industrial, renewable energy, and musical instrument customers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Composite Component Manufacturing

NAICS

Other Aircraft Parts and Auxiliary Equipment Manufacturing (336413), Motor Vehicle Body and Trailer Manufacturing (33621)

SIC

Aircraft & Parts (3720)

akta.pro primary industry

Composite Structures & Layup Manufacturing (IMABAEAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Automotive Exterior Body Panels & Closures Manufacturing (Bumpers/Fenders/Hoods/Doors/Tailgates) (IMACAKAD)

Keywords

• Composite component manufacturing
• Carbon fiber fabrication
• Custom composite parts
• Aerospace composite solutions
• Marine composite engineering

Headquarters

HQ city

Bristol

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Custom Composite Component Manufacturing: Clear Carbon & Components generates revenue through custom manufacturing of high-end composite components. The company takes projects through all phases from design to commercial production, working with manufacturers and wholesale distributors. Revenue is project-based, with no standardized product pricing publicly disclosed.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Clear Carbon & Components manufactures high-end custom composite components for industries including aerospace, defense, transportation, marine, and musical instruments. The company produces parts ranging from simple components to highly complex engineered items, delivering high-quality, durable, and lightweight composite solutions tailored to the unique needs of its customers.

Product overview

Clear Carbon & Components (C3) is a manufacturer of high-end composite components serving aerospace, defense, marine, transportation, industrial, and marine applications. Founded in 1995 and headquartered in Bristol, Rhode Island, the company operates a 15,000 square foot facility and offers end-to-end composite component solutions from design through commercial production. Their product portfolio spans carbon musical instruments (manufactured for Luis & Clark), marine components (helm stations, masts, archs, stringers), architectural features (staircases, furniture), military shelters (ISO expandable, Joint War Fighter shelters), renewable energy components (wind turbine blades, solar supports), transportation components, and custom enclosures. The company utilizes advanced processes including VARTM, compression molding, pultrusion, and CNC machining to deliver components from concept to production. They also offer product development services (design, prototyping, production) and limited manufacturing consulting.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Custom Composite Components High-end custom composite components manufactured to client specifications, ranging from simple parts to highly complex engineered items. Targeted at industrial buyers in aerospace, defense, transportation, marine, and musical instrument sectors requiring durable, lightweight, high-performance composite solutions.

Named customers10 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Luis & ClarkcoreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerClear Carbon manufactures carbon fiber musical instruments under the Luis & Clark brand. These instruments have been featured in high-profile performances including the Obama inauguration and by artists like Lindsey Stirling and The Piano Guys. Luis & Clark instruments represent a premium product line leveraging Clear Carbon's composite manufacturing expertise.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Creative Pultrusions: Custom pultruded composite profiles and structural shapes for industrial and infrastructure applications. Directly comparable to C3's Contoured Pultrusion Process (CPP) capability and end-market mix.
• Strongwell: Manufacturer of pultruded and molded composite structures for industrial, infrastructure and defense markets. Directly comparable in scale, process portfolio (pultrusion, molding) and custom-project business model to C3.
• ACP Composites: Custom carbon fiber and fiberglass composite parts fabricator serving aerospace, motorsports, marine and industrial customers. Comparable mid-market custom composites competitor with similar process breadth.
• TPI Composites: Largest independent wind turbine blade and composite structures manufacturer. C3 already serves wind customers (Aeromine, Eastern Wind Power) and competes for the same prototype-to-production composite work, especially on complex geometries and out-of-autoclave processes.
• Composite Resources: Custom composite parts manufacturer offering design, tooling and production for aerospace, defense, medical and industrial customers. Closely comparable mid-size peer with similar end-to-end service model and customer base.

Broad incumbents

• Toray Advanced Composites: Subsidiary of Toray Industries supplying carbon fiber prepregs, resins and composite parts to aerospace, automotive and industrial customers. Overlaps with C3 on aerospace-grade prepreg molding and structural composite parts.
• Janicki Industries: Large-tier aerospace and defense composite parts and tooling supplier (Boeing, Spirit, Lockheed). Competes with C3 for aerospace/defense composite work but at significantly larger scale and program size.
• Hexcel: Public aerospace composite materials and parts supplier offering carbon fiber prepreg and structures. Competes as an upstream materials provider and as a downstream parts fabricator overlapping with C3's aerospace composites work.
• Owens Corning: Global composites and building materials supplier producing fiberglass and carbon fiber reinforcements, as well as finished composite parts. Overlaps with C3 as both an upstream reinforcement supplier competitor and downstream parts manufacturer for similar end markets.

Emerging players

• Markforged: Industrial 3D printing company whose composite printers (carbon fiber-filled nylon, continuous carbon fiber) compete for low-volume structural parts work that would otherwise go to traditional composite shops like C3.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/ClearCarbonComponents
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/clear-carbon-and-components-inc.
• Instagraminstagram.com/clearcarboncomponents

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Clear Carbon & Components