Mold and moisture remain some of the most persistent problems facing homeowners, property managers, and builders, with billions of dollars lost annually to remediation, repairs, and health-related issues. Beyond the immediate costs, moisture damage prematurely degrades building materials and necessitates frequent replacements, while the constant operation of HVAC systems and dehumidifiers to combat dampness increases a home’s energy and carbon footprint.
While many solutions focus on controlling humidity through ventilation or mechanical systems, Adept Materials began with a simpler question: what if the walls themselves could help regulate indoor humidity?
Inspired by how plant structures passively exchange moisture with their environment, Founder and CEO Derek Stein designed a bilayer material system that could absorb and directionally release water vapor in response to indoor humidity changes. With a patent in place, Stein set out to answer the next big question: how can we embed this technology into a product that everyone can use?
Paint emerged as the answer. As one of the most widely used materials in the built environment, paint offered a familiar and accessible way to introduce new functionality to the large interior surfaces of buildings without adding complexity or changing consumer behavior. Putting on a fresh coat of paint is something that anybody can do, and it’s not limited to high-end remodels or new construction. It’s a product category with a low barrier to adoption, giving it the potential to address pervasive moisture problems across the economic spectrum.
After years of development, testing, and iteration, Adept Materials has now launched Lilypad
, a humidity-regulating paint and primer system designed to reduce moisture-related risks in homes. As humidity rises in a room, the super-absorbent paint layer draws in moisture and gradually releases it as humidity falls. The primer layer acts as a smart gatekeeper that keeps stored water vapor out of the walls.
Adept’s early progress was accelerated through a series of grants and accelerator programs that supported both technical development and market validation. The startup joined Greentown through Greentown Go Build 2019 with Saint-Gobain (the InNOVAte 2019 Challenge), an accelerator program that fostered collaboration between built-environment innovators and Saint-Gobain, one of the world’s largest building-materials manufacturers. Through the program, the company gained non-dilutive grant funding and access to select Saint-Gobain testing capabilities, technical facilities, and expertise, which Stein said helped to illuminate opportunities in the materials market.
Following the program, Adept continued working in Greentown’s prototyping lab, starting with 150 sq. ft. of space and steadily expanding its footprint as the technology matured. Over time, the team scaled from bench top samples to larger production runs, developing repeatable processes that could support commercial manufacturing. These milestones marked a critical transition from laboratory proof of concept to a product designed for real-world use, culminating in the launch of Lilypad.
Check out how the startup grew from a technical idea to a commercially available product:
2018:
- Adept is founded as Techstyle Materials by physics professor Derek Stein to commercialize a material technology conceived at Brown University.
- Adept is named a Cleantech Open Northeast Regional Finalist and participates in the Cleantech Open National Finals competition.
2019:
- Adept is named a Winner of the Building Materials Challenge, sponsored by STO Corp.
- Adept Materials is selected to participate in Greentown’s InNOVAte 2019 Challenge with CertainTeed, Saint-Gobain’s leading building and construction brand in North America, along with Saint-Gobain NOVA, the external ventures arm of one of the world’s largest building materials companies and manufacturer of innovative material solutions. Through the program, Adept gains membership at Greentown.
- Adept receives a Catalyst Award from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC).
2020:
- Adept is selected to participate in the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2) program and begins a collaboration with building scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (now operating as the National Laboratory of the Rockies).
- Adept’s multifunctional material technology is validated at the lab scale.
2021:
- Adept concludes an exclusive license agreement with Brown University for the commercialization of its patented material technology.
- Adept raises its first external pre-seed capital round of $600k, led by Slater Technology Fund.
- The Adept team continues to grow, adding advisors from the construction industry, especially in gypsum R&D and manufacturing and sales.
- Adept, in partnership with the drone robotics company Apellix, shares a $200k Phase I E-ROBOT Prize from the U.S. Department of Energy.
2022:
- Adept is named a finalist of the Paint the Future competition, sponsored by AkzoNobel.
- Adept raises a $1.25M pre-seed capital round, led by Point Cove LLC and MassCEC.
- With a Ph.D. in Physics from NYU, Doycho Karagyozov joins the company as Lead Test Engineer, where he develops tests to measure the moisture-buffering properties of Lilypad Paint and Primer.
- Adept Materials begins working with Georgia Pacific as a member of the 1915 Studios Cohort.
2023:
- With a Ph.D. in chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Ilya Rushkin joins Adept Materials as Principal Chemist, where he leads the development of the company’s climate-regulating material formulations for Lilypad Paint and Primer.
- Adept receives a $275k National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I grant for developing “Multifunctional coatings for building envelopes.”
- Adept leases additional lab space for manufacturing process development and performance testing in Providence, RI.
- United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) awards multiple patents to Adept Materials on the company’s core material technology.
2024:
- Adept raises a $4M seed round led by construction industry giants DR Horton and PulteGroup to support continued R&D and commercialization efforts, with participation from Point Cove, MassCEC, Anorak VC, Cherrystone Angels, Mana Ventures, Slater Technology Fund, and others.
- With a Ph.D. in Materials Engineering, Evita Willems joins Adept Materials as Materials Scientist. She plays a key role in developing Lilypad’s Primer.
- Adept Materials is selected to join the Third Derivative program.
- Sarah Colburn joins Adept Materials as Chief Financial Officer. She previously co-founded and scaled the pioneering online paint company Backdrop.
- The company officially changes its name from Techstyle Materials to Adept Materials.
- Adept launches a pilot in Greentown’s shower rooms at 444 Somerville Ave., testing how the prototype paint and primer system regulates humidity compared to conventional paint.
2025:
- Adept Materials is awarded $1.25M by the NSF for a Phase II SBIR project to support its development and commercialization efforts.
- Adept partners with creative and digital agency Red Antler to develop the Lilypad brand ahead of its commercial launch.
- Wiatt Trujillo, Adept’s first full-time marketing hire, joins the company to lead brand-building, digital strategy, and go-to-market marketing efforts as the company phases towards launch.
- The pilot in Greentown’s shower rooms concludes, demonstrating a typical 15-percentage-point decrease in peak humidity compared to conventional paint, plus stability in performance through extreme testing conditions.
- Adept previews Lilypad in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Innovative Housing Showcase in Washington, D.C.
- Adept begins the manufacturing scale-up of Lilypad Paint and Primer in the United States.
2026:
- Lilypad, a moisture-control paint and primer system, becomes available to homeowners and builders nationwide.
- Lilypad is featured in the New Product Zone at the 2026 International Builders Show in Orlando, FL.
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