{"id":641,"date":"2018-10-19T10:09:17","date_gmt":"2018-10-19T14:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/?p=641"},"modified":"2024-01-08T16:28:50","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T21:28:50","slug":"from-diapers-to-whiskey-raleigh-entrepreneur-on-new-liquor-startup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/from-diapers-to-whiskey-raleigh-entrepreneur-on-new-liquor-startup\/","title":{"rendered":"From diapers to whiskey: Raleigh entrepreneur on new liquor startup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
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The serial entrepreneur\u00a0behind a diaper technology startup<\/a>\u00a0is tackling a new challenge \u2013 liquor \u2013 and investors are betting $3.6 million that he can disrupt that industry, too.<\/p>\n

Scott Bolin, CEO of new intellectual property holding firm Anavo Technologies, announced Thursday his firm spun out its first company: Raleigh-based Next Century Spirits. And it\u2019s being supported by a $3.6 million investment, led by Chapel Hill private equity firm Blue Hill Group.<\/p>\n

The idea came from a researcher at his first company, Tethis, which Bolin founded six years ago. Bolin initially thought Tethis\u2019 technology could filter water used in fracking. Over the years, however, the spongy material he helped create found a more enthusiastic market in diapers, where proponents hope it one day replaces the petrochemicals usually used in absorption.<\/p>\n

But other ideas for the material continued to matriculate \u2013 as did ideas for completely different technologies. About six months ago, the company split in two, buoyed by some of those ideas.<\/p>\n

Tethis\u00a0would push forward in diapers<\/a>\u00a0and Anavo, the second entity, would explore other applications. Bolin went with Anavo, as did an idea first born in Tethis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a scientist who was thinking a lot about bourbon and whiskey and alcohol,\u201d Bolin explains.<\/p>\n

Specifically, he was thinking about the inefficiencies and expenses \u2013 how the liquor has to be put into a barrel for years \u201cto get the flavor you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe created an invention that allows us to get those same flavors much more quickly and at a very large scale,\u201d Bolin says.<\/p>\n

The team prototyped the technology for a year before the Anavo spinout. Its Durham distillery now has the capacity of about 300,000 liters per year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually have some products in the market,\u201d Bolin says. \u201cI can\u2019t say who is using it right now, but it\u2019s mainly in the whiskey and rum space.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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