This Dutch materials startup invented ceramic that is light, flexible like paper; raises €4.2M to scale production

Eurekite, a Netherlands based scientific and creative company with expertise in formulation chemistry, production technology, and composite development, has raised €4.2M in a follow-on round of funding. Eurekite is a spin-off from the University of Twente. 

Investment overview

Between 2015-2020 Cottonwood Technology Fund, a Dutch-American venture capital fund, invested €2.75M in Eurekite. The follow-on round of €4.2M consists of a €1.6M loan from RVO (the Netherlands Enterprise Agency), a €600K lease facility from the High Tech Fund in Enschede.

It also included a €2M equity-investment provided by Demcon, OostNL and a group of informal investors from the Dutch region of Twente. Among the informal investors is Lumana Invest, a team of successful serial entrepreneurs with several investments in chemistry, medical and fibre technology.

“We are excited to close this funding round, because it allows us to deliver our breakthrough technology Flexiramics to corporations which can integrate it in their everyday products that brings many benefits to society,” said Gerard Cadafalch Gazquez, CEO of Eurekite.

Cottonwood Technology Fund is a seed and early-stage technology commercialisation fund with offices in Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA) and Enschede (the Netherlands). Cottonwood makes impact investments in IP-driven Key Enabling Technologies (Deeptech & High-Tech). The startups that Cottonwood invests in originate throughout the Southwest region of the USA and in Northwest Europe.

Use of the funds

The raised capital will enable Eurekite to scale production of ceramic fibres using the proprietary Flexiramics technology in the next two years. Furthermore, the company will also further invest in global business development and develop new application patents. 

Eurekite says after the scale-up, it will have world-class capabilities to produce submicron fibres at high throughput, which is necessary to undertake customer projects in the fields of batteries, electronics and advanced ceramics.

“As a person born and raised in Twente, I’m proud that we built a solid business case in this region, resulting in funding from a strong consortium of regional partners. The Eurekite team will continue to work hard to set an example of a successful material science company in a tech ecosystem that is in general dominated by ICT and medtech companies,” said Bas Kerkwijk, COO of Eurekite.

About Eurekite

Founded in 2015 by Bahruz Mammadov and Gerard Cadafalch, Eurekite is a scientific and creative company with expertise in formulation chemistry, production technology, and composite development.

It focuses on its core invention: Flexiramics – a flexible pure ceramic fibre mat that is light and flexible like paper but retains the main physiochemical properties of traditional ceramics.

The company claims the most important properties of ceramics are heat resistance, electrical insulation and resistance to corrosion. However, ceramics are very inflexible, which limits their application possibilities. As a flexible ceramic, Flexiramics has a potential for application in numerous technical fields, says the company.