Gabe Elias

Post-pitch story

Gabe Elias and his co-founders, Miles Dotson and Dr. Christopher Reyes, are rethinking how batteries are built. Most batteries come in standard shapes, and devices get designed around them. Material, a Miami company that came out of the SOSV/HAX hardware program, uses its HYBRID3D platform to 3D-print the whole battery, inside and out, in whatever shape a device needs. The best-documented news came in January 2026. Material announced a $7.1 million seed round co-led by Outlander VC and Harpoon Ventures, with GoAhead Ventures, Myelin VC, Demos Capital and Giant Step Capital joining. The raise was reported by Business Wire, SOSV, the company's law firm Fenwick and Refresh Miami. At the same time, Material announced a $1.25 million contract with the U.S. Air Force to make shape-fitting batteries for drones and defense uses. That's an early customer with very specific needs, and a strong test of the technology. Batteries are a hard business with big players, and scaling up production is where many startups struggle. But fresh funding plus a military contract give Material a real runway. If its printed batteries work in drones, a lot of other industries will be watching.