RED HERRING MAGAZINE
11.29.04



A COOL IDEA:
Entropy Solutions' thermal material can keep critical packages hot or cold for days.

Imagine a hot pastrami on rye mailed to you from Katz' delicatessen in New York City. Then imagine it delivered to you with steam still rising from the meat three days later - and you're in Anchorage, Alaska.

Entropy Solutions, a small Minnesota startup, has devised an innovation in corrugated packaging to guarantee just that. Although the company can offer no assurance as to the state of a sandwich that has been hot for 72 hours, it does claim that its packaging will maintain the temperature of any product, from cryogenic temperatures (less than -238* F), to over 600* F, for at least three days.

The potential market is enormous, but for now, Entropy Solutions has narrowed its sights on iust one business: blood products transport. Each year in the United States, losses from mismanaged shipping exceed $400 million, according to the company's estimates, which were culled from inquiries with 18 leading pharmaceutical companies. Entropy Solutions expects revenues of $41.8 million in four years, with an operating profit of $16.1 million.

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