
Netcapital Features New Lantern Client, Steel Jupiter, on its Crowdfunding Platform
by New Lantern Partners (9/7/23) ​
#Startup #Investing #HumanHealth #SocialImpact

Our client, Steel Jupiter, was just featured on Netcapital’s market leading equity crowdfunding investment platform, found here. Note that the Steel Jupiter investment opportunity is available for a limited time and capped at 500,000 shares at $1 per share. This is Steel Jupiter’s first capital raise outside of the large investments made to date by the Founder/CEO and a handful of other investors.
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Steel Jupiter is a minority-owned, transformational indoor air quality and human health technology startup, which will make the highest level of airborne virus protection accessible to all populations. The company’s mission includes providing solutions to underserved communities across the United States, who were particularly impacted during the pandemic.
Steel Jupiter has the exclusive North American license to manufacture the coating technology known as Zinnia, which was invented by a leading UK-based chemist and former chemistry professor at Harvard and Rice Universities. Zinnia is a specialty coating that can be applied to a wide variety of air filtration media and breathable face mask materials to trap and immobilize 99.9% of airborne viruses, including COVID, RSV, SARs, MERS, and influenza. Funds from the Netcapital raise will be used for additional testing and bringing Zinnia to market.
For example, the Zinnia coating can be applied to standard MERV 8-13 air filter material to provide HEPA level (MERV 17+) level virus protection, without the “energy penalty” on HVAC systems trying to push air through higher-level MERV filters. Importantly, Zinnia-treated filters can be used in existing HVAC systems without the large expense of equipment upgrade. As such, the applications for this type of breakthrough technology are numerous, e.g., commercial, residential, education, transportation, medical, and hospitality. For example, the New York Times recently published an article on the plight of poor indoor air quality in our nation’s schools, which result in high rates of infection – for which Zinnia-coated filtration could be a game-changer.
Steel Jupiter’s Founder and CEO, Carlos Tellez, is a Hispanic American who grew up in New Mexico. He went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, and a master’s from the Harvard Kennedy School. He worked in senior positions for Lockheed Martin and Fluor Corporation before signing on as CEO for what became a leading U.S. supply chain, logistics, and MRO company – where investors received a 20x return.
Carlos has assembled a highly experienced management team at Steel Jupiter. And, with assistance from New Lantern Partners, Carlos has also pulled together a very impressive Board of Directors including former senior executives from Sanofi Pasteur, Pepsico, AT&T, the Carlyle Group, and First American Foundation. Carlos’s technical advisors include respected health and indoor air researchers from Stanford, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the University of Arizona.
In the last 18 months, Steel Jupiter has worked closely with the University of Arizona, whose researchers have conducted extensive testing on Zinnia to confirm its very high virus capture efficacy. In the last year, Steel Jupiter has also entered into technical agreements with both the Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories in New Mexico for additional evaluation and testing.
Steel Jupiter is a 2023 recipient of the Ben Franklin Technology Partners Award, and is headquartered in Bethlehem PA, with a
corporate presence also in New Mexico and planned operations in Arizona. Zinnia will be manufactured by Steel Jupiter in the U.S.
Note that the Zinnia technology also has great application for removing contaminants from water, as well as water conservation for agricultural use. Efforts to bring these applications to market in the U.S. are also underway.
Additional information about Steel Jupiter and this Netcapital crowdfunding raise can be found at this link.
It is notable that Netcapital conducts rigorous due diligence on the startup companies it sponsors on its platform, including full independent audits of a company’s financials.