OXECO (Oxford, United Kingdom), a chemistry technology company aiming to transform product design and manufacturing, announced the closing of a $10.5-million funding round secured by the group’s new CEO, Vassilis Ragoussis.
The funding round is led by Lansdowne Partners, with participation from Ora Capital Partners, Tanarra Capital, and the Goh family office.
“As demand for industrial production surpasses pre-pandemic levels and net-zero deadlines loom, urgent action is needed to accelerate new product innovation whilst optimizing productivity at scale,” Ragoussis says. “This investment will expedite our ability to support partners in bringing highly innovative clean energy products to market and address workforce shortages, supply chain challenges, and soaring energy costs.”
OXECO’s proprietary technology platform ONTO improves the way materials interact in their intended environment by leveraging reactive carbenes to control the adhesion and wetting properties of surfaces. The technology optimizes the surface treatment of painted products and allows designers to modify the surface of materials to develop novel products.
Today, many manufacturers and designers are exploring applications in clean energy components such as wind turbine blades and batteries, according to the company.
One of the company’s partners, a leading producer of finished composite parts, has been using OXECO’s technology to solve bottlenecks in the painting of automotive parts for Fortune 500 companies and to maximize an existing workforce and space.
“OXECO eliminated the need for a cumbersome sanding process prior to painting parts for Mercedes-Benz Trucks and Ford vehicles,” says Anthony Gallia, chairman of Polkima. “By integrating OXECO’s ONTO into our process, we eliminated the aesthetic and functional risk of pinholes in our products, created a cleaner and healthier environment for our workforce, and significantly increased production without expanding our floor space or headcount.”
According to the company, the funding will be used to further commercialize its technology and advance research and development across the clean technology and transport sectors.
Source: OXECO, www.oxeco.co.uk.