Fribourg, Switzerland-based Bcomp, a clear tech firm, introduced that it has secured CHF 36M (roughly €37M) in a Collection C funding spherical.
The spherical was led by EGS Beteiligungen AG (EGSB), with participation from new traders, together with Verve Ventures, Zürcher Kantonalbank, and RKKVC.
A bunch of individuals who had already invested in Bcomp’s Collection A and Collection B rounds additional elevated their investments. This group contains names like Generali and Airbus Ventures, in addition to strategic funding funds linked to well-known OEMs akin to BMW i Ventures, Porsche Ventures, and Volvo Vehicles Tech Fund.
The Swiss firm will use the funds to develop its manufacturing capability and enter new markets in Asia and North America.
The corporate’s bio-composite merchandise have been recognised by Volvo and Polestar, with industrial-scale purposes underway.
Bcomp goals to increase into different sectors akin to rail, buses, aviation, aerospace, and client items.
“Not solely are we dealing with extra stringent rules for carbon outputs, however shoppers and producers in every single place perceive that we have to decarbonise to protect our international setting,” says Bcomp CEO and Co-Founder Christian Fischer.
“The standard and standing of traders in our Collection C show their perception that our bio-based composites supply a viable path in direction of carbon neutrality with out compromising on the rigorous efficiency necessities of our clients for his or her demanding purposes,” provides Fischer.
Bcomp: Pioneering sustainable light-weighting options
Began as a storage undertaking in 2011, Bcomp develops and sells sustainable light-weighting options.
The corporate’s proprietary pure fiber-based reinforcement applied sciences — ampliTex and power-Ribs, scale back environmental influence in a variety of high-performance purposes.
It contains motorsports, automotive interiors, mass transit, leisure gear, client items, and the aerospace business.
In line with Bcomp, its flax-based reinforcement materials can be utilized by OEMs as substitutes for normal supplies like carbon, glass, or plastic in its goal markets.
In sure purposes, it affords superior lightness and stiffness potential compared to artificial composites.
Moreover, these supplies present benefits akin to high-vibration damping and improved security for the reason that supplies don’t shatter upon influence.
OEMs related to traders like BMW i Ventures, Porsche Ventures, and Volvo Vehicles Tech Fund are already utilizing powerRibs and ampliTex.
For instance, ampliTex cloth is being utilized at quantity for seen inside elements within the new electrical Volvo EX30, whereas BMW is utilizing each merchandise within the design of efficiency inside and exterior elements for its BMW M4 GT4.
With Bcomp’s resolution, automotive interiors can scale back plastic content material by as much as 70 per cent and weight by as much as 50 per cent.
These pure, high-performance supplies reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 60 per cent and may be recycled.
The thermoplastic product vary is IATF 16949 and ISO 9001 licensed and may be simply built-in into quantity manufacturing processes.
Bcomp’s group affords international engineering assist and steerage from idea by to industrial manufacturing out of its Fribourg headquarters in Switzerland and an workplace in Shanghai, China.
The investor
EGS Beteiligungen AG (EGSB) is the funding arm of the Ernst Göhner Basis in Zug/Switzerland.
The inspiration invests a good portion of its belongings in Swiss corporations, contributing actively to their sustained constructive growth and securing the preservation of jobs and know-how in Switzerland.
“We’re very impressed by the maturity and management of such a younger Swiss firm within the subject of sustainable, light-weight efficiency supplies,” says David Kurmann, Funding Director at EGSB.
“They’re providing unprecedented options to decarbonisation at a time when the worldwide manufacturing sector is attempting to satisfy its carbon-neutral goals,” provides Kurmann.