The brand name is WNDR alpine and the ski are called Intention 110.
- The parent company of WNDR is Checkerspot.
- The skis are made from materials derived from novel triglycerides (oils) from microalgae.
- The Intention 110 skis of 180 cm long are 250 gr lighter than other skis.
What WNDR say about their technology
Composite materials of all kinds have existed in everything ranging from aircraft to bikes. And more recently, composites like carbon fiber have been repurposed by ski brands.
But materials suppliers have never built materials explicitly with skiing in mind. For the first time in history, we’re using biotechnology to design materials specifically for backcountry skiing.
With our algal composite at the core, we’ve improved our ski’s torsional stiffness-to-weight ratio and edge hold, enabling superior performance up and down the mountain.
- Proprietary bio-based composite designed from the ground up to optimize performance in our backcountry freeride skis
- More stable ride feel for firm snow and harsh impacts
- Comparable strength to weight ratio of a carbon fiber ski
Our platform begins with microalgae. We grow these algae in fermentation tanks in Berkeley to produce entirely new types of oils – oils that chemists have not had access to because the petroleum industry has no means to produce them.
These oils act as molecular “building blocks,” which we can chemically modify and utilize to design new materials with specific performance characteristics in mind.
We use these new materials to prototype our products at our Design Lab in Salt Lake City where we test them using state of the art technology in the lab and in the field by our athletes.
Checkerspot
Checkerspot, a biotech startup using microalgae to produce performance materials, announced in April 2019 that it has closed its Series A financing for $13 million.
The round was led by Builders VC, and included Breakout Ventures, Viking Global Investors, KdT Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, Sahsen Ventures, and Godfrey Capital, among others.
Checkerspot combines bioengineering, chemistry, and materials science to go from microalgae to next-generation performance materials.
“This is a pretty significant milestone for us,” said Checkerspot CEO Charles Dimmler.
He said the funding would support the company’s continued infrastructure development, as well as ongoing commercial activities with Beyond Surface Technologies and DIC that focus on novel triglycerides and polyols.
He also said it would help complete the development of a direct-to-consumer product later this year.
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