Top Material Science Startups in 2026

Carbon is reinventing how products are designed, engineered, made & delivered. Carbon’s Digital Manufacturing platform enables repeatable production of end-use parts with industrial grade materials and exceptional surface finish. Whether you’re making one or a million. Making the impossible possible. Carbon is a 3D printing (late stage, series E) startup in Redwood City, Ca. that creates the software, hardware and materials to enable production of groundbreaking parts — parts that can't be made any other way. The best example is Carbon's partnership with Adidas. Adidas had been interested in 3D printing shoes for years but could not find a technology that was good enough. With Carbon, Adidas finally could design and produce a lattice-based midsole that not only performs well but opens the door for a future of personalized shoes, and they're heading toward making millions of them.

Autonomous vehicles are poised to deliver transformational benefits to drivers and society, but their sensor systems remain critically vulnerable to common environmental stresses such as stone impact and buildup of bug splatter, dirt, rain, snow, etc. At Alchemy, we aim to improve and preserve human lives by empowering vehicle safety technologies to reliably function in all climates and road conditions. We are sustainably and responsibly developing and commercializing nanocoatings to protect these systems from critical damage and loss of vision.

Each year the mining industry discards over 200 billion tons of waste (tailings) and produces more than 7% of the world’s carbon emissions. Phoenix Tailings is on a mission to be the world’s first clean mining and metals production company. By eliminating this harmful waste from the environment, we can sustainably create valuable new materials. We started with the humble beginnings of a few friends in a backyard, thinking of how they can fix this broken system of metals production. Now, Phoenix Tailings has become one of the top sustainability startups in the world. A Techstars Boston 2020 company with funding from the US Department of Energy and National Science Foundation, Phoenix has demonstrated early success in our clean mining mission. We still have a long way to go to achieve this mission. However, it’s our belief that together, the right people can overcome any obstacle and change the world.

At Via Separations, we take a materials approach to the world's wasted energy. We are optimistic about scientific progress, passionate about global impact, and creative in everything we do. We are not afraid of hard problems, and we encourage each other to live at the intersections of disciplines, act on great ideas, and design everything. Via eliminates energy use in industrial processes, enabling pathways for a more sustainable, resource efficient future. With its core filtration technology, Via can slash the energy used in separation processes by 90%. We are a fast-paced, interdisciplinary team backed by The Engine, Safar Partners, Prime Impact Fund, and MassCEC.

An electron microscope for schools and the bio/pharma industries at a significantly cheaper price point than current offerings

InventWood is an innovator of advanced wood materials that offer better performance, lower costs, and greater environmental sustainability over commonly-used alternatives. Our flagship material, MettleWood, is up to 2x stronger and 6x lighter than high-strength steel, presenting numerous commercialization opportunities across industries.

At Halo Industries, we’re on a mission to reinvent a decades-old semiconductor manufacturing process that wastes billions of dollars each year. Our laser-based technology will provide a drastic reduction in cost and improvement in performance that will enable advancements in a diverse set of high-tech industries, such as solar, semiconductor, battery, LED, telecommunications, and power electronics. Our company spun out of Stanford University in 2014 and is funded by a combination of VCs, government grants, and strategic corporate partners. We are hitting the ground running after a recent funding round and are looking to continue building a passionate team to meet our next milestone of deploying a pilot production line to make the world more connected, efficient, and clean.

DuPont offers sustainable solutions for agriculture, electronics, communications, construction, transportation, and apparel markets. Their products and services include construction materials, fabrics, packaging materials, medical devices, electronic solutions, and adhesives for markets. They provide specialized construction materials to create and maintain roads, bridges, telecommunications, power, and water plants.