Aspen Aerogels raises $50M

Aspen Aerogels, which manufactures ultra-light materials for insulation and other purposes, announced that they raised $30M in equity (mostly from new investor Reservoir Capital Group, with participation from existing investors Rockport Capital Partners), and $20M in debt (link here -- registration required). $30M of the proceeds will go to building a new manufacturing facility.

Aspen Aerogels' "frozen smoke" is finding potential uses in everything from liquid natural gas transport container insulation, to deep-sea pipelines, to military applications, to fuel cell applications, and even including spacecraft re-entry insulation. The company previously raised $35M, and has so far taken in $5M in mostly grant revenues. So clearly here are some investors who are making a very big bet on this company and its technology.