Best Chemicals and Materials Companies in South Carolina, United States
The 67 best Chemicals and Materials companies in South Carolina, United States in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: Steel Dynamics.
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.
Ranked: Best Chemicals and Materials companies in South Carolina
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Stage | Founder | Founded | Tech stack | Patents & IP focus | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steel Dynamics Domestic steel producers and metal recyclers | $350M | — | Public | — | 1993 | WordPressMySQLSalesforce+25 | — | — |
| 2 | Sagitta Manufacturer of fiber optic components | $20M | 293 mo ago | Series B | — | 1997 | — | — | — |
| 3 | Palmettoadhesives Manufacturer of industrial adhesives for packaging, converting, and woodworking markets | $5M | 39 mo ago | Early Stage | Timothy Wilson Co-Founder | 1995 | — | — | — |
| 4 | Colnatec Manufacturer of crystal film measurement systems | $3M | 177 mo ago | Funding Raised | Scott Grimshaw CEO | 2009 | — | — | — |
| 5 | Hoowaki Manufacturer of water repelling micro surface surfactants | $200K | 193 mo ago | Seed | Ralph Hulseman Founder & CEO | 2008 | — | 59 patents Patents concentrated in health & consumer products | — |
| 6 | TCP Analytical Provider of analytical testing services for speciality chemicals | — | 15 mo ago | Late Stage | Todd Gensler CEO | 1917 | Cart FunctionalitySquarespace CommerceSquarespace+13 | — | — |
| 7 | Ingevity Ingevity Corp. provides specialty chemicals and high-performance carbon materials and technologies. | — | 61 mo ago | Public | John Fortson CEO & President | 1964 | Q4MediaElement.jsMicrosoft ASP.NET+14 | 9 patents Bio-based polyols for high‑performance, ambient‑cure polyurethane formulations | — |
| 8 | Graniteville Manufacturer of scientific formulations for coated fabrics | — | 178 mo ago | Acquired | — | 1947 | — | — | — |
| 9 | agy AGY is a glass, ceramics & concrete company offering glass yarn and glass products. | — | — | Private | — | 1998 | WordPressApple iCloud MailMySQL+29 | — | — |
Top 8 Chemicals and Materials companies in South Carolina
#1
Public · Cowpens, South Carolina · founded 1993 · 7635 employees$350Mraised▾
Steel Dynamics is domestic steel producers and metal recyclers. Their steel products include flat roll, merchant bar, rail, liquid pig iron, threaded rod, and processed copper. The company has operations in Indiana. In 2022, the company recorded annual revenues of $21.58B and a net profit of $3.4B.
- Conventional Debt$350M
#2
Early Stage · Greenville, South Carolina · founded 1995 · 30 employees$5.2Mraised▾
Manufacturer of industrial adhesives for packaging, converting, and woodworking markets. The company provides hot melt and water-based adhesive products. These adhesives are for applications such as food grade packaging, case and carton sealing, book binding, and paper laminations. The company offers both proven products and custom formulations.
- Mar 2023Conventional Debt$3.9M
- Mar 2023Unattributed$1.3M
#3
Series B · Simpsonville, South Carolina · founded 1997 · 47 employees$20.3Mraised▾
Manufacturer of fiber optic components
- Jan 2002Series B$15.3M
- Aug 2000Series A$5M
#4
Funding Raised · Greenville, South Carolina · founded 2009 · 6 employees$2.6Mraised▾
An energetic industry upstart launched in 2009, Colnatec has established new industry standards in the design, development, and manufacturing of innovative, high-performance film thickness sensors and electronic instrumentation used in ALD, CIGS, OLED, PVD, MBE, and CVD applications for the production of flexible displays (cell phones, monitors) and lighting, optics, thin film solar cells, high-speed electrical devices, and semiconductor wafers.
- Aug 2011Grant (prize money)$450K
- Mar 2011Grant (prize money)$235K
- Jul 2010Grant (prize money)$914.5K
- Jun 2010Grant (prize money)$914.5K
#5
Seed · Greenville, South Carolina · founded 2008 · 10 employees$200Kraised▾
Developer of micro surface technology designed to transform the surfaces of common materials. The company's technology offers high grip and low friction surfaces and helps to replace expensive coatings and lubricants and offers rhythm management lead covers, valves, and syringes, automotive extruded and molded seals, wire and cable jackets, and conduits, enabling businesses to reduce sliding friction and control surface tension along with other custom capabilities.
#6
Late Stage · Isle Of Palms, South Carolina · founded 1917 · 2 employees—raised▾
Provider of analytical testing services for speciality chemicals
#7
Public · North Charleston, South Carolina · founded 1964—raised▾
Manufacturer of agrochemicals, adhesives, lubricants, inks, coatings, and bio-plastics
#8
Acquired · Graniteville, South Carolina · founded 1947 · 100 employees—raised▾
Manufacturer of scientific formulations for coated fabrics
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
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
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.
- Georgia Institute of Technology46
- Purdue University West Lafayette46
- North Carolina State University39
- Northeastern University36
- Texas A&M University34
- Smart material61→108
- Soft robotics4→36
- Morphing8→35
- Nanotechnology19→46
- Elastomer18→41
- Nanotechnology12→29
- Soft robotics2→13
- Fabrication4→12
- Liquid crystal3→10
- 3D printing6→12
- Smart material10→18
- Nanotechnology7→9
- Shape-memory alloy2→4
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.
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.
- IBM5881
- General Electric4493
- Halliburton Energy Services3870
- Intel3631
- UNIV California3335
- 3M Innovative Properties3293
- Corning3129
- United States Gypsum2665
Common questions
Riya reads income statements for fun. She covers the real money in a sector — revenue, growth, who actually earns — and never met a vague claim she didn't want a number for.