Scania growth capital invests Rs 26.5 crore in a carbon fibre start-up

Scania Growth Capital, the investment arm of Scania group that is a part of Volkswagen truck and bus, has recently announced an investment of SEK 35 million (Rs 26.5 crore) in Corebon, a start-up specialising in carbon fibre.

Corebon is claiming to have developed a method for producing carbon fibre components which is applicable to a wide range of products in industries such as automotive, telecommunication, aerospace and robotics. The process that is also claimed to be patented is based on induction heating and enables Corebon to produce carbon fibre components at a significantly higher speed as compared to the existing methods.

Tobias Bjornhov, founder and CEO of Corebon said,“We are in an acceleration phase and are growing both our production capacity and our organisation. With Scania Growth Capital as lead investor in our SEK 45 million (Rs 34 crore) capital raising rounds and Scania’s ecosystem and knowledge will certainly help us accelerate growth.”

Christian Zeuchner, a partner at the management company of Scania growth capital said, “The technology has the potential to fundamentally change the reach of carbon fibre in industrial applications, which traditionally has been limited due to long lead-time and high cost.”

Per-Arne Eriksson head of customised truck development at Scania will join the board of directors of Corebon. Marking the fourth investment by Scania’s corporate venture capital fund, Eriksson said, “In the rapidly changing automotive industry, we see many opportunities to expand the use of carbon fibre composites to more applications as an enabler in product development, including in vehicle electrification.”