Microporous Secures Strategic Financing to Expand Battery Separator Manufacturing Capacity
Most companies chase attention. Microporous built a business on being ignored in all the right ways, until scale makes that impossible. Out of Piney Flats, Tennessee, they’ve spent decades engineering the thin line that keeps modern energy from turning unpredictable. Not flashy, not loud, just essential.
Now they’ve pulled in fresh capital, amount undisclosed, structured to bring their Danville, Virginia facility to life. Financing backed by Trent Capital Partners, Elda River Capital Management, and Eagle Point Credit Management. No vanity metrics, no inflated numbers for applause. Just capital meeting conviction at the exact moment scale demands it.
John M. Reeves, CEO, alongside Douglas Rich, President, is orchestrating a build that feels less like a pivot and more like a continuation of momentum. Backed by Stephan Custer, CFO, the financial discipline matches the operational ambition, while David Phillips, VP of Operations, ensures execution doesn’t drift from intent. This isn’t a startup chasing product market fit. This is a company with roots going back to 1934, when the first rubber battery separator showed up like a quiet revolution. Different decade, same instinct. Control the layer nobody thinks about, and you control the outcome everyone depends on.
Microporous builds separators for lithium-ion and lead-acid batteries. Sounds simple until you realize that separator is the difference between energy flowing clean or everything going sideways. Their ionForce platform, ultra thin, coated, precise, is designed for a world that’s leaning harder into EVs, grid storage, and anything that needs power without excuses. Talent additions like insik jeon, Senior Director of Technology, signal where the technical edge is sharpening, while commercial and operational depth from leaders like Shamus Crean, Director of Sales, EV, and Antonio Abriola, Director, Global Engineering, keeps the machine aligned from lab to market.
The Danville facility is where this gets interesting. Construction kicks off May 2026, backed by a capital stack that signals patience and belief. This isn’t about testing the waters. It’s about scaling domestic production in a market that’s tired of waiting on overseas supply chains to behave. Quality and precision stay locked in through leaders like Victor Forster, Director of Quality, Lithium Ion, and Christopher Kanduth, Quality Engineering, while financial oversight from Bob Williard, Director of Finance, keeps the expansion grounded.
A pattern shows up if you follow the timeline. Microporous didn’t sprint into relevance. They compounded it. Decades of manufacturing discipline, layered with timely bets on lithium-ion innovation, then anchored by the right capital partners who understand infrastructure isn’t sexy, it’s essential. Even advisory depth through operators like Brad Reed, Business Consultant, reflects a company that values experience where it counts.
Trent Capital Partners didn’t just write checks over the years, they leaned in long enough to understand the machinery, the margins, and the moment. Elda River and Eagle Point step in not for hype, but for throughput. That’s how real industrial momentum gets financed.
And for the market they serve, this move lands with weight. A domestic push into lithium-ion separator production, backed by patient capital and decades of manufacturing DNA, signals where the supply chain is tightening its grip and where the next phase of energy infrastructure is being quietly decided.