Hi — I’m Krish Bhuva, Co-Founder at Elyton. Thanks for being on this journey with us.
Wins
Fundraising: Held our first coffee chat with Dorm Room Fund, a student-focused VC that invests $250K+.
Team: Onboarding Rayhaan Sheik and Parker Meyers (CS Engineers) to support front-end and back-end development. Brings the total team to 6 people!
Engineering: Advanced our proof of concept with a new control loop and major improvements to our custom PCB V2. It works :) Pics below.
Legal/IP: Drafted key company documents and engaged TCS for prior-art research and provisional patent preparation.
Customers: Continued customer discovery and identified specific parts for our first paying customers. We are now in discussions with Connecticut machine shops and are targeting our first LOI by October. This month included three tours and serious engagements with shops employing more than 50 people.
Equipment: Received a donated three-axis gantry from MakerspaceCT, saving us more than $3K.
Investment: Applied & Qualified for Connecticut’s Angel Investor Tax Credit, giving eligible investors a 25% credit on investments up to $400K.
Asks
Introductions to owners or operators of machine shops and manufacturing businesses.
Connections within aerospace and defense manufacturing, especially people familiar with metal additive manufacturing.
Guidance on regulatory and quality requirements, particularly NADCAP and AS9100.
Support, advice, and investor introductions as we raise a $500,000 pre-seed round.
Outgoing
Submitting applications to Y Combinator, AIF Gust, and HAX by the end of July.
Submitting an application to the Bambu Lab Maker Fund by the end of July.
Losses
MATE World Championship: We lost :( The robot broke down during the transit, but the team gained valuable technical and operational experience together.
NSF SBIR: Our Project Pitch was rejected for insufficient technical framing. We were encouraged to revise and reapply.
Lab: Our current space may not be suitable long-term because it lacks a loading dock.
Elyton’s brand new 500sqft wet lab!
V2 Rectifier bottom - Pulses our current and creates the PID control loop between our gap and current.
V2 Rectifier top - Pulses our current and creates the PID control loop between our gap and current.