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Vulkam, a deeptech company whose mission is to revolutionize metallurgy through the industrial development of amorphous metals, announces a €34 million financing round, including €14 million in equity led by the SPI 2 Fund, managed on behalf of the French government by Bpifrance as part of France 2030, its historic investors (Supernova Invest, UI Investissement, BNP Paribas Développement and Crédit Agricole Sud Rhône Alpes Capital), to which were added the impact fund Inco Ventures and Groupe SEB (via its investment vehicle SEB Alliance), as well as a private financier, Vertech.
This capital increase is complemented by 20 million euros in debt: 6 million provided by the French government via France 2030 programs (including "Première Usine"), and 14 million in bank loans from Bpifrance.
The funds raised will be used to finance the operational launch in 2025 of Vulkam's first plant, located in Isère, and dedicated to the production of its new metals for industry, Vulkalloys®, with unprecedented mechanical performance designed to set a future standard in metallurgy and metalworking.
Founded in 2017 by Sébastien Gravier, a graduate of Ecole Normale Supérieure-Paris Saclay, mechanical expert, mechanical design associate and Doctor of Metallurgy, and Alexis Lenain, Doctor of Metallurgy, Vulkam draws on 30 years of metallurgy research at SIMaP, a laboratory resulting from the merger of 3 research units from CNRS, Grenoble INP and UGA. The company, whose technological breakthroughs are covered by 9 patents (3 of which were transferred by Linksium, which supported the creation of the company), has successfully completed the technology qualification and prototyping phase. It is now entering the industrialization phase for its processes and new metals.
Vulkam's amorphous metals, Vulkalloys®, are alloys whose atomic organization has been modified, giving them radically improved properties. Whereas in a conventional metal alloy, the atoms are always organized in an orderly fashion, in amorphous metals or "metal glasses", they occur in a random fashion. This disorganized structure offers unrivalled properties in terms of hardness and abrasion resistance, comparable to those of ceramics, but without being brittle.
Amorphous metal alloys differ from crystalline metals in that their strength is 2 to 3 times higher than that of conventional metals. What's more, the high-precision thermo-molding production processes developed and patented by Vulkam drastically reduce the quantities of raw materials required. This technique, similar to plastic injection or die-casting, enables the direct manufacture - without additional machining operations and therefore waste - of parts reaching precision levels of a few micrometers. The resulting savings in raw materials and CO2 emissions are estimated at a minimum of 50% and 30% respectively, compared with the conventional equivalent.
Resistance, miniaturization, environmental impact... three advances that promise a breakthrough in the metallurgical industry. The financial operation announced today will finance a first plant at Le Versoud (Isère) of 3,000 square meters. With a total budget of 15 million euros (building, production line, equipment), this industrial production unit should be operational in 2025, with the aim of producing 2 million parts in the first year, rising to 4 million by 2026.
The company's current workforce of 25, 70% of whom are engineers, doctors and technicians, is set to grow to 50 over the next 3 years, with the ambition of creating a player committed to the reindustrialization of the region.
While Vulkam's know-how enables it to offer cleaner, more sustainable metallurgy, the company is already supplying its Vulkalloys® to the watchmaking, medical and aerospace industries, which require high-volume, high-value-added metal parts.
Vulkam's products can be used, for example, to miniaturize medical devices or extend the life of mechanical systems. Over the next 5 years, Vulkam intends to innovate with new material compositions for even deeper market segments, such as transport, sports and leisure.
As an industrial player with long-standing roots in France, we are proud to participate in this fund-raising through our investment company SEB Alliance. With its genuine expertise in metallurgy and its differentiating technology, Vulkam is a promising start-up that Groupe SEB is delighted to support in its industrialization phase. Supporting Vulkam means contributing to France's industrial recovery". Thierry de La Tour d'Artaise, Chairman of Groupe SEB confirms.
Thierry de La Tour d’Artaise, Chairman of Groupe SEB
I'd like to thank all our investors for their commitment and for sharing our vision. Our vision is to industrialize the production of amorphous metals in France and shake up the highly traditional metallurgy sector. Thanks to the fundamental research that went into Vulkam's creation and our expertise in thermo-molding processes, we have solid barriers to entry, along with major environmental advantages. These are the points that convinced the impact fund Inco Ventures and Groupe SEB to join the Vulkam adventure.
Sébastien Gravier, President and Founder of Vulkam
About Vulkam:
Vulkam is a metallurgy SME that industrializes amorphous metals (or metallic glasses) and creates unparalleled micromechanical parts, aiming for excellence in industrial and medical equipment. The company, which offers a wide range of chemical formulations for its Vulkalloys, uses its patented processes to design miniaturized, optimized, high-strength components for the watchmaking, medical, aerospace and aeronautics industries. These complex parts, which are mechanically stronger and more functional, offer specification levels unattainable with traditional metals. The advantages of this innovation include mechanical strength three times greater than titanium, flexibility enabling elastic deformation capacity twice that of spring steels, and strength enabling parts to be reduced in size and weight by 30-50%. One of the main advantages of Vulkalloys®, Vulkam's amorphous metals, is that they improve the durability of systems, enabling them to remain accurate and reliable throughout the product life cycle, even under extreme conditions of use. Created in 2017, after 10 years of R&D led by Sébastien Gravier, its founder and President, Vulkam is the only European company offering industrial capabilities in the manufacture of amorphous metals for the development of miniature parts. Based in Grenoble, an international hub for cutting-edge micro and nanotechnology, the company currently employs 30 people.
To learn more about Vulkam: www.vulkam.com
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