Northumberland-based Dragonfly Advanced Materials has secured £1m to scale production of silica aerogel.

The funding includes £500,000 of investment from Northstar Ventures' North East Spinout Inspire Fund and a £500,000 grant from Innovate UK's Investor Partnership programme.

Dragonfly will use the money to increase production capacity and expand its sales and development team, Newcastle University said in an announcement published on 22 September.

The company is completing the commissioning of a new manufacturing facility in Northumberland. It says the site will allow it to supply larger quantities of aerogel for customer validation and development.

Aerogels are low-density materials with insulating, fire-retardant and water-resistant properties. Dragonfly says its process is designed to reduce production costs and make the material more practical for use in construction, energy, transport and industrial manufacturing.

Dragonfly chief executive John Baines said the company had spent recent years protecting its technology, expanding its intellectual property portfolio to three patents and building relationships with industrial partners.

“With the majority of our scale-up infrastructure now in place, our focus is increasingly on customer adoption, commercialisation, licensing opportunities and creating long-term shareholder value,” he said.

The North East Spinout Inspire Fund is a £22.5m fund managed by Northstar Ventures and backed by the region's five universities and the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority through the North East Fund. It targets university spinouts in areas including advanced manufacturing and engineering, with initial investments of £200,000 to £750,000.

Northstar said Dragonfly had made significant progress since its previous investment. Dragonfly is now working with industrial partners on joint development opportunities intended to lead to future licensing agreements.