Critical Materials Group announces USD10.3 million in seed funding to advance energetics production

Explosive testing of a fragmenting warhead at Critical Materials Group's Texas facility (Critical Materials Group)

Critical Materials Group (CMG), headquartered in Austin, Texas, announced that it has “raised USD10.3 million in seed funding led by Overmatch Ventures, with participation from Victory Six Advisors and Fulcrum Ventures”, according to a company statement on 2 September.

“The round will be used to accelerate development and commissioning of CMG's modular energetics production platform, expand the company's engineering and operations team, and advance regulatory milestones,” the statement said.

“The seed funding will also allow CMG to meet current commitments across its contract portfolio and move faster on facility commissioning as demand from US government customers continues to build,” the statement added.

Military explosives

“Critical Materials Group manufactures military-grade energetics”, focusing on explosives, Kevin Capozzoli, CEO and co-founder of CMG, told Janes on 1 September. The company also expects to work with molecules for solid rocket motors and pyrotechnic devices, he said.

The focus is initially on the RDX and HMX explosives that are in wide use, starting from raw chemicals all the way to the munition, Capozzoli explained.

This includes the chemical synthesis process to combine the molecules into the explosive formulas and then load, assemble, pack for defence applications, he added.

Modular process

CMG's modular energetics production platform has a small footprint and is designed to easily switch between different molecules and control the particle size, Capozzoli said. The company is working to establish its fully vertical stack from molecule to munition capability, he added.