"ExoMatter revolutionizes materials development"

With ExoMatter, you want to turn materials research upside down. What is your vision?

Friedemann: ExoMatter is revolutionizing materials development in almost all industries. To do this, we use large databases and find new or improved inorganic materials, for example, for new high-performance batteries or innovative solar cells. In the process, we look not only at technical and physical criteria, but also at sustainability issues and economic viability.

Josua: You have to know that material development in the laboratory is extremely time-consuming. It often takes a long time to find out which materials are suitable for a particular application. We have a better method. We use data, replacing trial and error in the lab, and can thus significantly cut the time needed to find materials.

How did you come up with the idea of offering material design as a service?

Josua: I was a master's student at DLR in 2015 and supported Friedemann. My task was to find a new material for a specific application. I thought to myself, searching through all of them now is kind of stupid. But there were already databases where you could find the materials. And then I selected one from these. That worked really well right away. That was the first point that showed the potential. I then followed this path in my doctoral thesis. Since we kept hearing that there was great interest among companies in using something like this, we then developed the idea for our own startup.

Friedemann: I sat in the lab for several years and had to select the materials by hand. That's why I was amazed when Joshua established his idea with the selection from databases with us. Of course, it must also be said that databases in this form were only just emerging at that time. Ten or fifteen years earlier, this possibility didn't even exist. Then I left research for the time being, ended up at the German IPCC Coordination Unit for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and worked a lot on the topic of sustainability. And that's when you realize that there are many questions where you can make progress with new materials. That was my impetus to start this company with Joshua. Because our approach makes it easier to find new, more efficient, sustainable, environmentally friendly materials.

Barbara: Two natural scientists with such a promising idea need someone who can also market and sell it. That's where I come in. I studied chemistry and business administration in my bachelor's degree and then specialized in entrepreneurship and management in my master's degree. So far, I've also worked as a business development manager and pushed digital sales. Then Joshua asked me if I wanted to help out, and now I'm part of the founding team.