Three decades in, the online auto-parts seller is betting a rebuilt AI catalog, a revived JC Whitney brand, and a $35.7 million cash infusion can turn cheap fenders into durable margins.
CleanFiber makes high-performance, carbon-negative cellulose building insulation from recycled corrugated cardboard. Using a proprietary wet separation and liquid borate infusion process, it produces a cleaner, lower-dust insulation that performs better than legacy newsprint-based cellulose. Based in Buffalo, New York, the company has scaled rapidly since opening commercial production in 2020 and was named the #1 fastest-growing manufacturing company in America on the 2024 Inc. 5000.