£5.1m for clean tech firm shows environmental investments are still strong
21st May 2009
Metalysis Ltd has raised a further £5.1 million to scale up its FFC Cambridge Process. The scale up will initially focus on the production of tantalum and titanium. All of the company’s current venture capital partners have invested further funds.
“Raising over £5 million in this environment is a significant endorsement of our core technology and the progress that the company has made. It is also a real endorsement of our management team and the potential of the business,” said Mark Bertolini, chief executive of Metalysis.
Metalysis owns the global Intellectual Property and commercial exploitation rights to the FFC Cambridge Process which, when compared to conventional technologies, enables a cheaper, less capital intensive and environmentally far more attractive production route to high value metals and alloys.
The South Yorkshire, UK-based company is already supplying low volumes of metallurgical grade powders to its partners and is scaling up its technology to enter both titanium and tantalum markets more significantly in 2010.
Tantalum and titanium powders are used increasingly in a diverse range of applications for the aerospace, marine, medical, chemical, automotive and electronics industries.
During the last five years Metalysis has raised £19 million in venture capital and a further £4 million in grants. From a workforce of three in 2005, the enterprise now employs 43 people in science and engineering, scale-up and commercial development operations.
The new funding comes from Environmental Technologies Fund along with 3i, Chord Capital, Seven Spires Investments and Cody Gate Ventures. In addition to providing working capital it will primarily be used to support the scale-up of a novel semi-continuous pilot plant.
Is the economic downturn reducing investments in carbon?
A report published today by Price Waterhouse Coopers and PointCarbon suggests that the recession is causing a reduction in the amount of investment cash available for clean tech investments. If true, this is really worrying because an earlier report by Price Waterhouse Coopers estimated that some $500bn per year was needed in carbon investments in order to make the drastic turnaround necessary if climate change is not to become irreversable.
Research from Living Cities and Fast Company also published today suggests that although there will have to be more investment in clean tech, particular focused on urban and densely populated poorer areas of cities, there are more funds that are becoming available in the US.
It appears that the area of social and environmental investments is really gathering pace in the US, however. According to a recent Monitor Institute report, the amounts of money going into "impact investment" has dramatically increased. Impact investment is not philanthropy - the report is keen to point out that this is real, for-profit cash that is being used to produce a social and environmental return as well.
Robert Hokin, CEO of eco-connect does not think that the two stories are contradictory. "I am not surprised," he says, "that you are seeing more investments in the US. There has been a huge Obama-effect: the government is making commitments to invest and so the private sector is following suit." In contrast, her argues, "the UK approach to clean tech is fragmented and the private sector is confused. Money is often contingent upon getting funding and in the current climate, regulatory and policy bottlenecks are creating blockages. Projects which have been approved are being put on ice and this is creating a lack of clarity for the private sector."
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