Composites AM startup Caracol closes €3.5 millions seed investment
Caracol, an Italian innovative startup SME specialized in advanced composites AM solutions, closed a €3.5 million seed investment round. This round sees Primo Ventures with Primo Space Fund and EUREKA! Venture SGR with EUREKA! Fund joins the company as lead investors, together with a group of business angels. The operation was coordinated by Growth Capital as financial advisors and supported by the legal advisors Fieldfisher and HiLex.
Launched as a composites AM startup at the end of 2017 by Francesco De Stefano, Jacopo Gervasini, Paolo Cassis, and Giovanni Avallone, Caracol has transformed robotic supports into integrated Additive Manufacturing technology, following its research in the world of 3D and generative design at Politecnico di Milano. Thanks to the development of its patented innovative extrusion system and to its proprietary software algorithms: Caracol’s robotic system can produce large-scale single-piece components, with complex geometries and with “direct printing” of composite materials with high mechanical and thermal performances. Caracol’s innovation resides in its ability to overcome the limits of traditional industrial 3D printers in terms of size, with lower operating costs compared to conventional processes and to other solutions on the market.
Caracol aims to innovate current production systems, by helping manufacturing companies achieve their demanding sustainability goals. Caracol’s technology was developed to ensure a process that, by printing directly from pellets, eliminates, and potentially reuses, most production waste typical of subtractive production processes.
“Closing this seed investment round is a fundamental step for Caracol’s future growth”, said Francesco De Stefano, Co-founder and CEO at Caracol.“Thanks to the partnership with important players in the world of innovation like Primo Space ed Eureka!, Caracol will have the possibility to accelerate its technological development and consolidate its role as a leading actor in the world of large-scale 3D printing for advanced applications, in high-performance sectors like Automotive and Aerospace. A special thanks also go to our partners Growth Capital, Fieldfisher, and HiLex who’ve supported us in completing this operation”.
The capital from this round will allow Caracol to invest in its R&D projects aimed at accelerating the industrialization of its robotic composites AM system, expanding the range of materials used, and increasing the number of processable applications. Furthermore, the company is expanding its production capacity and strengthening its commercial expansion by opening its new headquarter and doubling its team over the next 12 months.
Also, by acquiring the ISO 9100 certification (international standard on Quality Management Systems), Caracol will have the chance to accelerate its commercial development in sectors like Aerospace, Automotive, Marine, and Energy. Matteo Cascinari, General Partner of Primo Space Fund, declared: “The space industry is going through a deep transformation process also regarding production processes and some creations of the aerospace industry can benefit from 3D printing. We are confident that the quality of Caracol’s technology and the team can play a relevant role in this field”.
Stefano Peroncini, CEO of EUREKA! Venture SGR, commented: “Caracol is an extraordinary example of innovation, covered by solid patents, that will allow it to both give value to the type of materials used in additive manufacturing and to robotic systems for the production of large-scale parts, achieving improved performance in terms of quality, costs and time compared to other standard techniques”.
