Better Materials, Inspired By Biology: A Conversation with Founder Capella Kerst
Dr. Capella Kerst, founder of revolutionary bioinspired dry adhesive company, geCKo Materials, has had a year of fast-paced success. She tripled her company’s team, finished a funding round, and unveiled four new high-fidelity solutions using geCKo Materials Dry Adhesive (gMDA) on the main stage of TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.
Sporting degrees from UC Berkeley, UCLA, Stanford, and NYU Stern EFL, along with a wide range of interests and personal projects, Capella is a self-starter with a lot under her belt. Here are some insights from a conversation with the mind behind geCKo Materials.
→ What has it been like, as a founder, to see your company’s scale expand?
“Having something that started in my mom’s garage to go to full-scale manufacturing, and then growing the team has been really rewarding. It’s very humbling and honoring to lead such an amazing team,” Capella shared.
geCKo Materials was born as Capella’s PhD research, a collaboration between herself at Stanford and UC Berkeley Integrative Biology and engineering researcher Robert Full, over fifteen years ago. Full inspired Capella’s interest in the dry adhesive that geCKo Materials uses, and Capella developed and scaled its mass production, whole life cycle sustainability, and applications.
Now, geCKo Materials has skyrocketed from a small startup to what Capella hopes will soon become a household name. “It’s been a really exciting year,” she said.
→ Give us the rundown of how geCKo Materials’ adhesive works.
“Think of us as the next industrial Velcro,” Capella said. “A one-inch tile can support 15 pounds vertically, six one-inch tiles can pull a car, and you can reuse it over 120,000 times. For reference, Velcro can only be used about 2,000 times.”
The adhesive functions using Van der Waals forces, which are the same static interactions between molecules that gecko lizards use to climb up walls. It can be used in vacuum environments, in any barometric conditions, and to replace suction and vacuum dependency.
“We’re great for the semiconductor industry, automotive industry, and space,” Capella said. At her recent TechCrunch demonstration, she announced four types of grippers that can be placed in minutes on the end of any traditional robotic end-effector to manipulate and grasp things.
→ Where is geCKo Materials going next?
Capella was clear about her vision: “Getting into more customers’ hands, and doing full-scale automation for some customers, and expanding the team.”
→ Why is it important to emphasize sustainability?
“To help our customers save energy, time, and money,” Capella said. “It’s really important to look at how we sustainably manufacture for our future. Software is great, but hardware hasn’t had as much innovation. We replace suction and vacuum dependencies, which require a high carbon footprint. We take out hundreds of billions of dollars of electricity bills per facility.”
→ Share a recent experience where you got to see the relevance of bioengineering today.
Capella discussed being a guest speaker at SCET’s Bioinspired Innovation class alongside Robert Full. “The students were great,” she said, “and it was really fun to give my first real lecture to a class.” She shared excitement about the range of opportunities that students now have open to them – you’re just one class away from your own biotechnology innovation.
→ What advice would you give a current student interested in exploring startups?
“Go to class, turn off your phone. It goes by so quickly. You can scroll Instagram without a college degree, so take advantage of the school time you have.”
Capella’s own journey features an undergraduate degree in math and physics from UC Berkeley with a minor in mechanical engineering, followed by a masters’ in mechanical engineering from UCLA, a PhD from Stanford, and the Endless Frontier Labs deep tech program at NYU Stern.
She described that most of her growth didn’t come from a big “aha” moment, but from “little nuggets of information that you pick up along the way from programs, professors, classes” – from networking at her entrepreneurship co-ed fraternity at UC Berkeley to developing an independent work ethic as a PhD student.
“Follow your passion,” she advised anyone interested in building a startup of their own. “It’s not an easy road, and you need something that truly drives and lights your fire during the good times and also the hard times. Do something you really love.”
Dr. Capella Kerst, founder of revolutionary bioinspired dry adhesive company, geCKo Materials, has had a year of fast-paced success. She tripled her company’s team, finished a funding round, and unveiled four new high-fidelity solutions using geCKo Materials Dry Adhesive (gMDA) on the main stage of TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.
Sporting degrees from UC Berkeley, UCLA, Stanford, and NYU Stern EFL, along with a wide range of interests and personal projects, Capella is a self-starter with a lot under her belt. Here are some insights from a conversation with the mind behind geCKo Materials.
→ What has it been like, as a founder, to see your company’s scale expand?
“Having something that started in my mom’s garage to go to full-scale manufacturing, and then growing the team has been really rewarding. It’s very humbling and honoring to lead such an amazing team,” Capella shared.
geCKo Materials was born as Capella’s PhD research, a collaboration between herself at Stanford and UC Berkeley Integrative Biology and engineering researcher Robert Full, over fifteen years ago. Full inspired Capella’s interest in the dry adhesive that geCKo Materials uses, and Capella developed and scaled its mass production, whole life cycle sustainability, and applications.
Now, geCKo Materials has skyrocketed from a small startup to what Capella hopes will soon become a household name. “It’s been a really exciting year,” she said.
→ Give us the rundown of how geCKo Materials’ adhesive works.
“Think of us as the next industrial Velcro,” Capella said. “A one-inch tile can support 15 pounds vertically, six one-inch tiles can pull a car, and you can reuse it over 120,000 times. For reference, Velcro can only be used about 2,000 times.”
The adhesive functions using Van der Waals forces, which are the same static interactions between molecules that gecko lizards use to climb up walls. It can be used in vacuum environments, in any barometric conditions, and to replace suction and vacuum dependency.
“We’re great for the semiconductor industry, automotive industry, and space,” Capella said. At her recent TechCrunch demonstration, she announced four types of grippers that can be placed in minutes on the end of any traditional robotic end-effector to manipulate and grasp things.
→ Where is geCKo Materials going next?
Capella was clear about her vision: “Getting into more customers’ hands, and doing full-scale automation for some customers, and expanding the team.”
→ Why is it important to emphasize sustainability?
“To help our customers save energy, time, and money,” Capella said. “It’s really important to look at how we sustainably manufacture for our future. Software is great, but hardware hasn’t had as much innovation. We replace suction and vacuum dependencies, which require a high carbon footprint. We take out hundreds of billions of dollars of electricity bills per facility.”
→ Share a recent experience where you got to see the relevance of bioengineering today.
Capella discussed being a guest speaker at SCET’s Bioinspired Innovation class alongside Robert Full. “The students were great,” she said, “and it was really fun to give my first real lecture to a class.” She shared excitement about the range of opportunities that students now have open to them – you’re just one class away from your own biotechnology innovation.
→ What advice would you give a current student interested in exploring startups?
“Go to class, turn off your phone. It goes by so quickly. You can scroll Instagram without a college degree, so take advantage of the school time you have.”
Capella’s own journey features an undergraduate degree in math and physics from UC Berkeley with a minor in mechanical engineering, followed by a masters’ in mechanical engineering from UCLA, a PhD from Stanford, and the Endless Frontier Labs deep tech program at NYU Stern.
She described that most of her growth didn’t come from a big “aha” moment, but from “little nuggets of information that you pick up along the way from programs, professors, classes” – from networking at her entrepreneurship co-ed fraternity at UC Berkeley to developing an independent work ethic as a PhD student.
“Follow your passion,” she advised anyone interested in building a startup of their own. “It’s not an easy road, and you need something that truly drives and lights your fire during the good times and also the hard times. Do something you really love.”