Manufacturer Cupron launches liquid copper product

Cupron Clear-infused paint is poured into a bucket. (Photos courtesy Cupron)

A copper-focused Richmond company is expanding its lineup with a new product, following a sizable capital raise earlier this year. 

Cupron, which manufactures copper additives known for their anti-microbial properties, recently launched Cupron Clear, a liquid form of copper that can be used in polymers and liquids.

The new product comes after the company’s closing in March of an initial $4.4 million tranche of what’s expected to be a total $7.5 million investor round.

Cupron CEO Christopher Andrews told BizSense at that time that some of the initial capital would go toward product development for the company, whose additives are blended into a growing range of goods, from medical supplies and hygiene products to textiles and building products.

That product applicability is growing with Cupron Clear, which has been in the works for the last 18 months. Cupron Clear is a stabilized, liquid version of cuprous, a particularly potent state of copper. In this liquid form, the product can be used for microbial control and product preservation.

“We’ve stabilized cuprous so that you can package it, put it in a container and it will sit on the shelf until you’re ready to use it. That’s the innovation,” Andrews said Monday. 

Cupron CEO Chris Andrews

Andrews said Cupron hopes the new product can replace anti-microbial additives like quats and isothiazolinones, which are used in common cleaning products and have come under fire in recent years for potential health risks.

“Nobody had figured out how to put the highest form of copper, called cuprous copper, in a stable liquid form that you could then industrialize it, until now,” Andrews said.

Cupron Clear can be used with or without other products. It is the first liquid product for the company, which offers three other formulations of its copper additives.

Cupron filed the patent for Cupron Clear around March of this year, and has since been in co-development with manufacturers that can use the product.

Where Cupron’s previous focus was on incorporating its products into solid items like textiles, having a liquid copper option opens up new opportunities for the company, which can infuse Cupron Clear into other liquid products that dominate industries like skincare and hygiene, Andrews said.

“The vast majority of products in personal care and microbial control … I’d say ninety-plus percent are companies that are formulating in liquids,” Andrews said. “We have really interesting technology that wasn’t in a form that the marketplace could really use.” 

Andrews said that Cupron is currently in “active development” with manufacturers across five categories to incorporate Cupron Clear into their products. Manufacturers include those in the personal care industry, with products like deodorants and skincare, hygiene with cleaners and sanitizing wipes, industrial coatings and building materials, textiles like performance apparel and in oil field services. 

Andrews declined to name specific companies that are looking to incorporate Cupron Clear in their products, noting that discussions are continuing.

“Actual partners will reveal themselves once those handshakes are made,” he said. 

Andrews declined to share how much money Cupron has invested into the product thus far.

Cupron can be used on its own, as shown here being sprayed on a turf surface.

With Cupron Clear now launching in the marketplace, Andrews said the company will look to return to working on raising the second tranche of its $7.5 million capital round. A total of 12 investors participated in the first $4.4 million tranche.

Andrews declined to list names but said the $4.4 million came from investors who have been associated with Cupron for a while and have seen its expansion in recent years. 

“Now that this product is coming out in the marketplace, we’re going back to talk to those capital providers about that,” Andrews said. 

Cupron was founded in Israel in the early 2000s before being bought by a group of investors and relocating to Richmond in 2011.

The company first gained traction in 2010 after it sent pairs of its copper-infused socks to Chile, where a group of 33 miners were trapped in the San José copper-gold mine in the Atacama Desert. The socks were among a package sent down to the trapped miners while they waited for what became an internationally publicized rescue. 

Cupron is headquartered at 4329 November Ave., near Richmond International Airport in eastern Henrico. It currently has around 20 employees, said Andrews, who joined Cupron in 2010 and became CEO in 2014. The company works with several global manufacturers in Europe, Asia and the United States.

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