Radar · Chemicals and Materials in Kentucky
Best Chemicals and Materials Companies in Kentucky, United States
The 40 best Chemicals and Materials companies in Kentucky, United States in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: Atkins & Pearce.
By Rohit KhannaTrends & Stories
40companies tracked
$329.6Kdisclosed funding
0unicorns
1have raised
FLIAR INTELLIGENCE · CHEMICALS AND MATERIALS × KENTUCKY
Our analysis of 50 Chemicals and Materials companies
$3.9b in tracked funding; 74% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2025.
50companies analysed
74%cloud-native stacks
2025funding peak (by rounds)
2016median founding year
41median Fliar Index™
Ranked: Best Chemicals and Materials companies in Kentucky
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Stage | Founder | Founded | Tech stack | Patents & IP focus | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Atkins & Pearce Manufacturer of textile fibers | $330K | 200 mo ago | Funding Raised | Henry Pearce Co-Founder | 1817 | Cart FunctionalityWooCommerceWordPress+41 | — | — |
| 2 | 3GM Steel Manufacturer & distributor of steel products | — | — | Unfunded | — | 2006 | — | — | — |
| 3 | Amended Silicates Provider of consulting services for air control systems | — | — | Funding Raised | Rick Nowak CEO & President | 2020 | — | — | — |
| 4 | Angstrom Technologies Specialty chemicals company that develops and manufactures UV fluorescent chemicals and pigments for use in… | — | — | Unfunded | — | 1983 | WordPressMySQLPHP+13 | 245 patents MEMS-enabled optical imaging and stabilization systems, plus stable emissive toner technologies. | — |
| 5 | ArmastekUSA Manufacturer of glass fiber reinforcement polymer composite rebar | — | — | Unfunded | Sardar Khan CEO | 2016 | — | — | — |
| 6 | Audubon Metals Recycler and producer of high-quality, infinitely recyclable secondary aluminum alloys | — | — | Unfunded | — | 2000 | WordPressMySQLPHP+16 | — | 1 award |
| 7 | Banner Stakes Manufacturer of industrial & commercial safety material equipment | — | — | Acquired | Steven Weiner Owner | 2007 | HubSpot CMS HubVimeoEnvoy+14 | 7 patents Retractable ribbon barriers for traffic and pedestrian safety control | — |
| 8 | BILSTEIN COLD ROLLED STEEL Cold-rolled steel manufacturer providing high-quality steel strips for diverse applications | — | — | Public | Brent Wilson Chief Executive Officer | 2017 | WordPressPleskMySQL+16 | — | — |
Top 1 Chemicals and Materials companies in Kentucky
#1
Funding Raised · Covington, Kentucky · founded 1817 · 255 employees$329.6Kraised▾
Funding Raised · Covington, Kentucky · founded 1817 · 255 employees
Manufacturer of textile fibers
Funding rounds
- Jan 2010Grant (prize money)$164.8K
- Dec 2009Grant (prize money)$164.8K
Founders & team
Investors
National Science Foundation
Tech stack
Amazon S3Amazon Web ServicesBluehostBootstrapCart FunctionalityCdnjs
Funding & investor landscape
$329.6Ktotal disclosed funding
1companies funded
2disclosed rounds
0rounds last 90 days
Most active investors
Prism market signals · United States · country-scoped Prism corpus, 774,205 docs
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Chemicals and Materials coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time rising
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising
RESEARCH SIGNALS · United States
How research on Advanced Materials is moving in the United States
A read on the academic research around Advanced Materials — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 1,306 United States-affiliated papers.
research sentiment over time
200820172026
enthusiastic · positive · guarded tone
Tone is overwhelmingly optimistic and intensifying — the enthusiastic (strongly-positive) share moved 46% → 87% across 2008–2026.
top research entities
- Georgia Institute of Technology46
- Purdue University West Lafayette46
- North Carolina State University39
- Northeastern University36
- Texas A&M University34
leading researchers
Gangbing Song · Antonella D’Alessandro · Marcelo J. Dapino · H. Jerry Qi · Hari Krishna Bisoyi · Simon Laflamme · Jeong‐Hoi Koo · Timothy J. White
▲
Breakthroughs541 · 41%
▲ 30%→51% share
▲1.7× share momentum6 median citations56% since 2021mostly methods-led
Breakthroughs are rising (30%→51% of field), led by Smart material.
rising sub-themes (early→recent)
- Smart material61→108
- Soft robotics4→36
- Morphing8→35
- Nanotechnology19→46
- Elastomer18→41
Newly emergingScalability 0→7 · Photopolymer 0→7 · Cellulose 0→7
Landmark Multimaterial 4D Printing with Tailorable Shape Memory Polymers · 1,085 cites
◆
Advancements508 · 39%
▼ 51%→31% share
▼0.6× share momentum6 median citations36% since 2021mostly methods-led
Advancements are cooling (51%→31% of field), led by Nanotechnology.
rising sub-themes (early→recent)
- Nanotechnology12→29
- Soft robotics2→13
- Fabrication4→12
- Liquid crystal3→10
- 3D printing6→12
Newly emergingPolyvinylidene fluoride 0→5 · Biocompatible material 0→5 · Deformation (meteorology) 0→5
Landmark A review of stimuli-responsive shape memory polymer composites · 1,147 cites
▼
Concerns71 · 5%
▲ 5%→6% share
▲1.2× share momentum11 median citations51% since 2021mostly reviews
Concerns are rising (5%→6% of field), led by Smart material.
rising sub-themes (early→recent)
- Smart material10→18
- Nanotechnology7→9
- Shape-memory alloy2→4
Newly emergingTextile 0→6
Landmark Covalent adaptable networks: smart, reconfigurable and responsive network systems · 1,275 cites
RESEARCH HOTSPOTS · United States
Where advanced materials is researched across United States
Location clusters by institution affiliation — each city's volume, stance tone, and a quick read on its hot topic, what's advancing, the opening opportunity, and the main concern.
Boston81 · +0.59
Atlanta47 · +0.63
Los Angeles34 · +0.64
Philadelphia32 · +0.57
SF Bay Area31 · +0.59
Pittsburgh30 · +0.64
Chicago27 · +0.66
New York24 · +0.55
Ann Arbor19 · +0.74
San Diego14 · +0.62
PATENT SIGNAL · United States
Who's filing advanced materials patents in the United States
United States advanced materials patent filing is cooling — 88,582 filings from 8,000 assignees (2016–2025), led by IBM, General Electric, Halliburton Energy Services; annual filings 9852→6833.
88,582 filings8,000 assigneespeak 9998/yr2016–2025
filing momentum (YoY 2016–2025)
top patent filers
- IBM5881
- General Electric4493
- Halliburton Energy Services3870
- Intel3631
- UNIV California3335
- 3M Innovative Properties3293
- Corning3129
- United States Gypsum2665
Common questions
How many Chemicals and Materials companies are there in Kentucky, United States?
Radar tracks 40 indexable Chemicals and Materials companies headquartered in Kentucky, United States that meet our profile-completeness bar.
What is the total funding raised by Chemicals and Materials companies in Kentucky, United States?
The Chemicals and Materials companies in Kentucky, United States on this list have raised a combined $329.6K in disclosed equity funding across 1 funded companies.
Which is the highest-funded Chemicals and Materials company in Kentucky, United States?
Atkins & Pearce is the highest-funded Chemicals and Materials company in Kentucky, United States, with $329.6K in disclosed equity funding.
How many Chemicals and Materials companies in Kentucky, United States are funded?
1 of the 40 Chemicals and Materials companies in Kentucky, United States on this list have disclosed at least one equity funding round.
How many Chemicals and Materials unicorns are there in Kentucky, United States?
None of the Chemicals and Materials companies in Kentucky, United States on this list currently has a disclosed valuation of $1B or more.
Who are the top investors in Kentucky, United States Chemicals and Materials companies?
The most active investors in Kentucky, United States Chemicals and Materials companies on this list include Altira Group, National Science Foundation, New Venture Partners.
Rohit KhannaTrends & Stories
Rohit lives in the feed. He covers what's moving right now — the funding rounds, launches and shifts breaking across the trade press — and ties them back to where the sector is heading.