Material Bank is a New York City-based start-up seeking to upend the building industry's relationship to building materials sampling and ordering. 

The company is founded by Adam I. Sandow, an entrepreneur who leads the SANDOW company, a collection of interconnected media and designer- and consumer-oriented businesses that include the magazines Interior Design and Luxe Interiors + Design as well as the annual NYC X DESIGN showcase. 

Material Bank bills itself as "the world's largest material marketplace of its kind" by offering free, customizable, and on-demand material library services for architects and designers to use. 

Anyone who has worked in a design office knows that nearly every practice has a motley collection of material sample books, paint swatches, and other catalogs scattered around the office that designers use to select finishes for their work. In larger offices and universities, these collections might have dedicated spaces and staff on hand to coordinate the materials and inventories. Material Bank seeks to augment and potentially replace these in-office libraries by "enabling architects, designers, and corporate buyers to search hundreds of thousands of materials such as paint, flooring, and textiles across hundreds of vendors" through a searchable database. Material Bank's database is combined with a "propriety robotic distribution facility" located in Memphis, Tennessee in order to allow designers who order material samples by midnight Eastern Time one day to receive their selected material samples all in one box by 10:30 AM the next morning. 

According to the company, this approach allows designers rapid access to a vast library of potential materials without requiring the dedicated space or hassle of coordinating an individual office's collection. The service runs on what are called "smart swatches," QR-code enabled identification tags for each material that, when scanned, provide information for each product, including its dimensions, available colors and finishes, and other information. 

Rather than seeking to muscle out the sales reps who ultimately coordinate transactions between manufacturers and designers, however, Material Bank seeks to act as a more effective middle man between these two groups. Sandow told Business of Home in a 2019 interview, "We know [...] that the reps are a very important part of the process. The designers need the reps. We’re here to help the reps make more money by not delivering materials. I want them following leads, answering questions, and connecting."

According to a press release published by the company, for the first quarter of 2020, Material Bank recorded "45% quarter-on-quarter revenue growth and the company is on track to grow revenue 200% and will double its participating brands in 2020." The subscription service currently has over 5,000 active members and has a waitlist of over 3,000 potential members, according to Sandow. 

In addition, the company recently announced that it had secured $28 million in a Series B funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures.The company reports that this recent investment brings the company's total funding to date to $55 million.

A press release announcing the funding infusion states, "In today's rapidly changing environment, Material Bank is uniquely positioned to help drive the industry forward while design professionals adapt to working differently. Material Bank is used by architects, designers and corporate buyers."