A German university spin-off company is to scale up the production of plasma-based coating machines after securing €3.5 million ($3.7m) in equity funding.
Aachen-based start-up IonKraft has successfully closed a first equity financing round to develop innovative plasma-based barrier coatings that can replace non-recyclable barrier coatings. The capital will be used to prepare the market entry, scale up production, and expand its team.
The financing round was co-led by M Ventures (the strategic investment fund of Merck) and TechVision Fund, and joined by High-Tech-Gründerfonds.
IonKraft was founded in 2021 by Dr Montgomery Jaritz and Benedikt Heuer as a spin-off from the Institute for Plastics Processing (IKV) at RWTH Aachen University in Germany.
During his research at the IKV, Jaritz identified a market opportunity for plasma coatings. This led to the development of a new high-barrier technology that is believed to make containers both chemically resistant and fully recyclable, with a barrier effect comparable to that of glass.
The patented technology enables packaging producers to replace millions of tonnes of non-recyclable multilayer packaging, or packaging containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), according to the company. Furthermore, the barrier technology can provide sufficient protection to allow the incorporation of recycled materials into packaging for sensitive, food or cosmetics products, it added.
The IonKraft team has developed the machine technology to apply coatings to various types of containers, and has validated a wide range of applications with a variety of different industry partners.
In 2023, the company received funding from the European Innovation Council Accelerator programme, enabling it to develop its machine and prepare for market launch. The first industrial coating system is on track to be ready for a customer by the end of the year. The market launch of the first products with IonKraft coatings is scheduled for 2025.
“This financing round is a decisive step to support the market launch of our technology and to prepare for future scaling,” said Benedikt Heuer, co-founder of IonKraft. “We are thrilled to have a diverse group of investors that share our vision and will provide us with support on multiple levels.”
“IonKraft’s innovative coating is appealing for a variety of reasons: it provides an alternative to PFAS, which are being regulated, and glass, which is prone to breakage or requires secondary packaging,” added Owen Lozman, managing director of M Ventures. “It also has the potential to maximise recycled content in plastics packaging.”
IonKraft is supported by the EXIST research transfer programme of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.
