German chemical company Evonik Industries AG has announced that it has invested in Finnish nanophotonics company Nanocomp Oy Ltd. and now holds a minority share in the company. The investment was made as part of an investment syndicate with Finnvera Venture Capital.
A spokesperson for Evonik told European Plastics News, a sister publication of Plastics News, that the sum of the investment was remaining undisclosed but that Evonik is now represented with a seat in Nanocomp's supervisory board.
Nanocomp of Lehmo, Finland, uses innovative light-guide films from Evonik for manufacturing micro- and nano-optical structures that are imprinted on to the polymer films. Evonik states the company complements its light-guide film business.
"Nanocomp's activities have a high strategic fit with Evonik's business," said Dr Bernhard Mohr, head of venture capital at Evonik, in a statement. "The progress both in digitalization and in the use of human/machine-interfaces calls for the miniaturization of the functional optical elements. With their know-how, Nanocomp is a pioneer in this area. For Evonik this is a door-opener to highly attractive growth markets," Mohr added.
Veli-Pekka Leppänen, CEO of Nanocomp, said: "We are pleased to have gained Evonik as a strategic investor. Now, we want to expand production and tap into new markets. As a strategic investor, the impact of Evonik's investment will be to enable us to accelerate the development and marketing of innovative applications."
Evonik, based in Essen, Germany, says it plans to invest a total of 100 million euros ($114.4 million) in promising start-ups.
