Solvus Global’s Journey to Commercialization Led to Infinite Expansion Possibilities
Co-Founders Aaron, Sean, and Diran – having spent 5+ years researching the world of materials processes, met at Worcester Polytech Institute and joined forces in their post-academic lives to solve big problems together.
They wanted Solvus Global to be the “Interface of Change,” but how exactly they would execute their vision took opening up to outside help and a bit of soul-searching.
MSBDC guided Solvus team through a process of self-discovery
The team first tried building Solvus as a consulting business while simultaneously running sister company, Kinetic Batteries. This is when Aaron first met advisors Art Martin and Dan Lilly from the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center seeking feedback on ideas for the best path forward.
Lilly is an SBIR proposal writing guru who, if you can keep up with him, could teach you more in a 15 minute session than you could learn from most grant writers in a year. The team went through a self-imposed boot camp with Lilly, quickly iterating through five SBIR proposals in parallel with ironing out the business models for Kinetic Batteries and Solvus Global.
This trial by fire, taught the Solvus team everything they needed to know about government contracting (at no cost except time!) and so the second iteration of Solvus began.
Solvus Global the “government researcher” quickly grew into areas of material design, machine learning, and 3D printing. But as Solvus continued to scale from 3 to 5 to 20 employees by 2020, the need for focus and a critical decision point was reached: how to align the growth paths of Kinetic Batteries and Solvus Global?
Coming of age as the Interface of Change
Supported by SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program and traditional SBA financing with Webster Five Bank, Solvus came out of pandemic recovery on a mission, focused on engineering change in positive ways.
The third iteration of Solvus Global – the “problem solver,” led Solvus growing to a team of over 100 technicians, engineers, scientists, and innovators who focus on identifying, solving, and scaling the toughest problems in materials and manufacturing.
“We exist to solve problems in the manufacturing technology industry, but at the end of the day it’s all about the people. Ideas are easy to come by, but really execution is that hard part and you can't do that without amazing people like the ones on our team at Solvus," says Dr. Aaron Birt.
Solvus expanded to over 48k square feet of manufacturing space – dedicated to solving big problems in casting and forging supply chain, materials for additive manufacturing, data management of manufacturing, and recycling of critical materials.
The team forged high impact public-private partnerships that will continue to create good jobs and retain talent in the Commonwealth into the future. In collaboration with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), Solvus Global has also established an internship program with local colleges and universities such as Quinsigamond Community College and Worcester Polytechnic Institute to prepare the next generation of advanced manufacturing workforce in the Central Massachusetts region.
The Solvus team is now also expanding its focus to include infrastructure repair (think bridges & pipelines), affordable housing, and even childcare as critical areas for the next 2-3 years. Their journey to commercialization led to infinite expansion possibilities.
“It's an honor to be recognized as Small Manufacturer of the Year. Growing up in the area, it has been so exciting to see the resurgence of manufacturing in the region and we're grateful for the support we've had from leaders in the region to have the opportunity to be part of that growth,"said Dr. Sean Kelly.