PathAhead and Honda Trading Form Partnership to Commercialize 'Rising Sand' Utilizing Desert Sand

PathAhead, a startup originating from Honda Motor's 'IGNITION' new business creation program, has announced a business alliance with Honda Trading. The partnership aims to jointly promote businesses related to road pavement and construction materials utilizing 'Rising Sand' (patent pending), a world-first high-quality artificial aggregate made from granulated desert sand developed by PathAhead.

■ Background and Purpose of the Partnership
PathAhead is advancing research and development of innovative road pavement and construction materials. This partnership aims for the mutual development of both companies by combining PathAhead's product development capabilities with Honda Trading's global procurement and sales network. Through this alliance, the two companies will cooperate on everything from product planning, research, development, and manufacturing to supply to the market, and will promote the examination of related businesses.

■ Details of the Partnership
In this partnership, the two companies will promote business development based on the following division of roles:
- Product Planning, Research, Development, and Manufacturing (Led by PathAhead): Development and manufacturing of next-generation pavement materials and construction materials using PathAhead's proprietary technology.
- Procurement and Sales Operations (Led by Honda Trading): Procurement of raw materials and product sales both domestically and internationally, utilizing Honda Trading's expertise.

The companies will also collaborate on building production systems and developing customers.

■ About 'Rising Sand,' High-Quality Artificial Aggregate from Desert Sand
While global construction demand is expanding and natural aggregate (sand/gravel) shortages are becoming critical, desert sand—which exists in inexhaustible quantities—has not been fully utilized as construction material due to issues with particle size and shape. In Africa, in particular, the road pavement rate remains low at approximately 20%, and dependence on natural resources with inconsistent strength leads to pavement deterioration, resulting in economic losses such as increased logistics costs.

To solve these problems, PathAhead has developed 'Rising Sand,' the world's first artificial aggregate utilizing desert sand. Representative Iga has applied the expertise in material research and steel sheet development for automobiles, cultivated over 11 years at Honda's Material Research Center, to the construction field.

- Proprietary Granulation Technology (Patent pending): Uniformly granulates fine, spherical desert sand (approx. 100μm) into particle sizes in the tens of millimeters.
- Overwhelming Durability: Features approximately 2.5 times the durability of conventional natural aggregate, significantly extending the lifespan of typical roads from about 10 years to over 20 years.
- Significant Cost Reduction: By reducing the frequency of road repairs, lifecycle costs can be kept to approximately 60% of conventional levels. By using locally procurable resources like desert sand, the company aims to provide the material at a price equivalent to natural aggregate.