Battery-Backed Goodfellow Acquires US-Based Potomac Photonics

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Battery-Backed Goodfellow Acquires US-Based Potomac Photonics

Goodfellow, a global supplier of highly specialized materials today announced the acquisition of Potomac Photonics.

Potomac, based in Baltimore, Maryland, is a leader in microfabrication with a long history of helping its clients develop high-quality miniature components. Leveraging a broad range of technologies, Potomac is well-equipped to micromachine a wide range of materials such as polymers, metals, ceramics, and glass with feature sizes on the micron-scale that cannot be seen with the naked eye. Potomac serves as a true partner to its clients with an ability to scale from single prototypes to millions of parts for production.

While Potomac’s micromachining capabilities are broadly applicable across a wide range of high-end applications from quantum computing and electronics fabrication to space exploration, Potomac has seen considerable growth more recently in microfluidics and medical device manufacturing. With microfluidics serving as a key enabler for numerous promising biomedical applications ranging from cell therapies to cancer diagnostics, Potomac’s high-end manufacturing capabilities serve as a key enabler for the rapidly growing microfluidics market.

Potomac joins Battery’s existing platform Goodfellow, providing a complementary extension to Goodfellow’s range of highly specialized materials for research and specialist production. Headquartered in England, with offices in France, Germany, USA, Japan, and China, Goodfellow supplies a wide range of high-quality metals, alloys, ceramics, polymers, compounds, and composites. The addition of Potomac greatly enhances Goodfellow’s existing bespoke processing service capabilities creating a one-stop shop for advanced materials and services.

The President and Co-Owner of Potomac, Mike Adelstein, was excited to partner with Goodfellow to accelerate the growth potential of his business. “Having used Goodfellow’s products for more than two decades, I was greatly humbled and honored by the opportunity to partner with the Goodfellow team,” said Mike Adelstein. “As an organization passionate about helping our customers solve their most challenging materials and machining challenges, having access to Goodfellow’s global network of customers will enable us to accelerate our reach across geographies and markets.”

As part of the transaction, Mike Adelstein will continue to serve as the President of Potomac.

“I am thrilled to partner with Mike and the Potomac business as we work together to advance material science across the world,” said Simon Kenney, Goodfellow CEO. “Having supplied materials for many breakthroughs, with Lawerence Livermore’s nuclear fusion reaction being one such example, I’ve always said all our customers go on to do something truly remarkable with the materials they source from us. We are often the first step of this process. With the addition of Potomac, we expand our capabilities offering a full range of high-end materials capabilities allowing us to better support our customers along their journey from research to production.”

Added Andrew Watson, Goodfellow CFO: “In addition to the highly complementary strategic fit, we view the USA as a key growth market for our group and are excited to add some more critical mass to the regional sales office we have already. With Potomac serving as the Group’s US hub, we are excited to continue supporting Potomac’s advanced machining capabilities, while simultaneously building out additional capabilities for Goodfellow’s existing range of products in the USA.”

Potomac represents the first add-on acquisition for Goodfellow, closing a little over two years after the initial platform investment in 2021.

“We are pleased to complete our first add-on and are really excited about the fit as we strive to expand Goodfellow capabilities beyond material sales,” said Jesse Feldman, a Battery general partner and Goodfellow board member. “We are excited about our M&A landscape, particularly as we endeavor to build out the platform with additional high-value materials, service and/or software capabilities.”

About Potomac Photonics

Potomac was founded in 1982 and has an extensive history of helping its clients develop miniature products and bring them to market. Utilizing cutting-edge manufacturing technology, Potomac has been recognized by both commercial and government agencies for innovative contributions to areas such as medical device manufacturing and electronics fabrication. Potomac’s high-tech facility, located in Halethorpe, MD, is ISO 13485:2003 certified. Learn more at https://www.potomac-laser.com/.

About Goodfellow

Goodfellow is a UK-based specialist supplier of a comprehensive range of metals, alloys, ceramics, polymers, compounds, and composites. Established in 1967, Goodfellow has grown organically into a multinational organization with subsidiaries across Europe, North America, and China, and carries an extensive product range consisting of over 150,000 items available in stock. Goodfellow received an investment from Battery Ventures in 2021, serving as a starting point for a new advanced materials platform. Learn more at https://www.goodfellow.com/.