InventWood’s Superwood represents a breakthrough material that transforms ordinary wood into a substance stronger than steel through molecular restructuring and densification[1]. The company is launching a 90,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Frederick, Maryland in Q3 2025 to begin commercial production[2].
Key features of Superwood:
- 50% more tensile strength than steel with 10x better strength-to-weight ratio[3]
- Fire-resistant, rot-resistant, and pest-resistant while maintaining wood’s natural appearance[2:1]
- Created through a two-step process involving chemical treatment and hot-pressing[4]
- Can be produced in hours rather than weeks using “food industry” chemicals[3:1]
Environmental Impact:
- Could replace up to 80% of global steel and concrete use[5]
- Potential to reduce carbon emissions by 37.2 gigatons over 30 years[5:1]
- Trees act as carbon stores: steel produces 1.85 kg CO2 per kilogram, while wood removes 1.8 kg CO2[5:2]
Business Development:
- Secured $15 million in Series A funding in 2025[2:2]
- Total capital raised exceeds $50 million[2:3]
- Formed partnership with Intectural for North American distribution[2:4]
- Initial products will focus on building facades before expanding to structural applications[3:2]
Very cool, I’m cautiously optimistic.
I wonder how competitive the material is on price. If it’s close or better than alternatives, then the bus will basically drive itself on adoption, which would be fantastic.
By reading the production process, I think it’s going to be cheaper to build a factory that produces this kind of material instead of a foundry for melting metal. It all depends on what are the limits of the manifacture (eg. how long/large/thin/thick my pieces can be, what kinds of wood can be used, how to source it and stuff like that)
They are using fast growing wood, like eg. pine, no need of an special natural hard wood.