Frontieras: A Startup 10 Years in the Making
Written by Matt McKean, CEO and co-founder of Frontieras North America (LinkedIn)
Over the past decade, we have witnessed the “unicorn” phenomenon play out numerous times. This moniker is associated with startups that have achieved a billion-dollar valuation.
“Unicorns” share a number of common denominators:
they address a mature market,
introduce a layer (or sometimes multiple layers of) technology, and
secure funding to accelerate growth and create greater value for not only the customer, but partners, investors and in some cases, the common good.
Companies like Uber, VRBO and Airbnb changed how we think about traditional startups. They reimagined what an established market would look like with the use of technology, and as a result changed how we think about their respective industries.
Another shared element to their success is that they eliminated overhead costs associated with owning assets. By deferring this cost to the contractors (i.e. car owners and homeowners), they expand their inventory and create a better customer experience without incurring any of the traditional overhead. And yes, we have seen some of these companies struggle with operational challenges as they expand globally, however they’re still in their infancy.
Some of these startups will expand and succeed even further, while others will contract and fail. The point is that these “unicorns" have changed the conversation about an established or mature market, changed how we view offerings, and as a result they displace established market leaders.
It’s with this line of thinking about reimagining, that I want to introduce you to Frontieras North America.
Frontieras, a subsidiary of Frontier Applied Sciences, has spent the last 10 years developing a technology that reimagines the processing of hydrocarbons within a broader energy market. Specifically focused on efficiently processing fossil fuels, Frontieras maximizes the energy output and produced yields of each form including solids, liquids and gas.
Already in Stage III engineering for designing its first plant, Frontieras is on the verge of breaking ground in the next 12 months. The timing of this aligns well with the global energy crisis - the global market is coming to grips with the fact that electricity demand will outpace supply from renewable energy and low carbon energy sources in 2022.
Additionally, the record-breaking increase in natural gas prices is allowing for utility companies to burn coal in their power stations in a more competitive and efficient manner. Specifically, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported that global power generation from coal is set to jump by 9% in 2021 to an all-time high of 10,350 terawatt-hours.
Frontieras was born out of an established market and reimagined what that market could become. Similar to the companies discussed above, Frontieras has adopted technology to change the process. Frontieras also expanding upon that and, is using technology to accelerate the testing and modeling of its first plant, is validating its technology to generate its targeted yields in all three forms of energy, and is eliminating traditional overhead costs and government subsidies that hamper other solution offerings from coming to fruition.
Today Frontieras holds patents in nine countries, is validated by a third-party consulting firm and has processed large amounts of coal within its test plant to confirm its projected yields.
Frontieras Solid Carbon Fractionation (SCF) technology addresses the market need for cleaner energy that is proven, reliable and efficient. Because of the yields that are produced in our fuel processing, Frontieras is in a unique position to deliver a disruptive and highly profitable technology, with no reliance on government intervention and taxpayer handouts. This freedom allows Frontieras to address the worldwide energy demand without dependence on subsidies.
For instance, SCF is poised to play a key role within America’s infrastructure acceleration. According to IEA, overall coal demand—including its use in steelmaking, cement and other industrial activities—is forecast to grow by 6% in 2021 to just over 8bn tons globally. That puts demand on course to a new all-time high as soon as 2022.
Frontieras and its Solid Carbon Fractionation technology is poised to redefine the energy market and provide a way for hydrocarbons to be used as a core component of our society’s energy creation. Over the next 12 months, we will be making a series of announcements that will illustrate our ability to execute on the company strategy. To learn more visit us at Frontieras.com.