ORANGE — The chemical manufacturing company that moved into the former PHA Industries property in 2021 has raised $32 million from investors to expand the factory and hire more employees.

Impact Nano, founded in 2020 by Matthew Stephens and Mark Wilkinson, has secured funding from Intel Capital and Goldman Sachs Asset Management. The company plans to expand its Orange workforce and invest in the structure it bought two years ago.

“What we bought was the building and some equipment, but we had to install a lot of equipment, and we will install [more] equipment,” Stephens said of the building at 153 Quabbin Blvd. “We’ll be creating high-paying manufacturing jobs in Orange.”

Impact Nano, which has its corporate address in Lincoln, maintains the Orange factory and a laboratory in Devens. Stephens said the Orange facility has about 12 employees, and he and Wilkinson expect to hire about six more in the near future with some of the investment funding. He said the jobs will likely pay at least $30 per hour, “and sometimes quite a bit more depending, on the person’s qualifications.” Stephens said the goal is to grow the Orange staff to 50 to 100 in the long-term.

“We really appreciate the community of Orange,” he said. “We think it’s a great community and we’re really happy to be there, and we’re looking forward to growing the company and helping Orange the best we can.”

Intel Capital’s managing director, Sean Doyle, will also join Impact Nano’s board of directors.

Stephens said he and Wilkinson started Impact Nano to address the supply chain gap to materials that are critical to the production of computer chips. He explained the company makes the chemicals used to create the chips. These chemicals would otherwise come from regions of the world plagued by conflict and political instability.

“We’re trying to bring the material supply chain to North America, as much as possible,” Stephens said.

The Selectboard granted Impact Nano a license for flammable and combustible liquids, as well as flammable gases and solids, after Wilkinson attended a meeting in August 2021, four months after the company closed on the factory at 153 Quabbin Blvd. All imported chemicals are transported in drums, and liquefied gases come in thick-walled, high-integrity cylinders.

Wilkinson said a great year will probably yield 100 tons of material.

“That’s maybe four or five truckloads worth of material,” he said at the August 2021 meeting.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.

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