PlasmaBound in UCD has secured a €750,000 investment from Business Venture Partners, further to a previous 2022 raise with Act Venture Capital, Atlantic Bridge and Enterprise Ireland, bringing to €3.1m the total funding raised in 2022.
The company had previously raised €1m from investors, bringing total funding to over €4m.
PlasmaBound has developed Controlled Polymer Ablation (CPA), which it describes as ground-breaking, environmentally friendly bonding technology for lightweight composite materials.
CPA enables high speed and low-cost bonding of ultra-lightweight materials, according to the company.
PlasmaBound, with 13 staff, was co-founded by Dr James Nicholas Barry, Alan Barry and Xavier Montibert, and was recently selected as one of five start-ups to win access to the Hyundai Motor Company and KIA Corporation sponsored 2022 Accelerate the Future Challenge.
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Established in 2017, PlasmaBound’s start-up losses to the end of 2021 amounted to €800,000. The venture is a UCD spin-out company, is headquartered at NovaUCD.
CEO Alan Barry said PlasmaBound’s vision is to make lightweight materials affordable for low to mid-range vehicles, moving the drive toward lower CO2 emissions and longer EV ranges into mass-market applications.
The goal is to enable industry to employ composite materials in lightweight vehicles, products and structures, as standard at all price points.
“We are delighted to have secured this investment from BVP,” Barry added. “It will help PlasmaBound bring about a further positive impact to the environment with the adaption of our CPA technology in manufacturing process throughout various sectors.”
BVP director Stephen Burdock said the firm was impressed by the environmental benefits that PlasmaBound can deliver across various sectors through the application of its CPA technology.
“BVP is pleased to be able to support this innovative company who are driving real value across global markets,” he stated.
Since 2007, BVP has raised and managed 16 Simple Green BES and EII Funds. Investees include HealthBeacon, Crawley Carbon and UrbanVolt.
Photo (l-r): PlasmaBound founders, Dr James Nicholas Barry, Alan Barry and Xavier Montibert.
