Bcomp offers a blueprint on how startups can turn materials innovation into market leadership - Related to how, bcomp, mode, market, architects'

Bcomp offers a blueprint on how startups can turn materials innovation into market leadership

If there's one tech trend that has truly taken off in 2025, it's materials innovation. Companies are pioneering sustainable alternatives, such as eco-friendly textiles, to replace traditional, more polluting ingredients.

Swiss business Bcomp is a leading provider of sustainable, high-performance bio-based materials that aim to decarbonise various industries. The business sits firmly in the scaleup phase, unlike most of its newer materials innovation counterparts, but in doing so, demonstrates salient lessons for those in the space.

I spoke to Christian Fischer, CEO and co-founder at Bcomp, to learn more.

A material science engineer by training. Fischer studied at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, culminating in PhD studies where he met his early co-founders to build lighter reinforced backcountry skis.

"We used flax fibres initially to reinforce balsa, which is the lightest wood on Earth, and we discovered the potential of flax fibre composites. At first, our dream was to launch a ski corporation, but we soon realised that the real innovation lay in what we had developed inside the ski."

Fischer admits, "While our original dream was to launch a ski organization, we soon recognised that the true innovation wasn't just in the skis but in the core material we had developed. Instead of starting a ski brand, we decided to focus on refining and commercialising this core technology.

Bcomp built a supply chain and started selling these innovative cores.

However, it quickly realised that despite its prominence in Switzerland, the ski industry is ultimately a niche market.

"This led us to shift our focus toward the broader potential of flax fibre composites—not just as a material for skis but as an enabling technology with applications far beyond winter sports."

The enterprise now has three core product offerings:

PowerRibs: a patented reinforcement grid inspired by leaf veins, designed to enhance stiffness and impact resistance while minimising weight.

AmpliTex: a range of flax fibre fabrics that replace traditional carbon and glass fibres in composite materials. Known for its lightweight properties, vibration damping, and reduced CO₂ footprint, AmpliTex™ is widely used in applications ranging from automotive interiors to high-performance sports gear.

PowerRibs Thermoplastic (TP) ia variant of PowerRibs, specifically developed for large-scale mobility production-.

Companies entering the composite space often struggle with the transition from textile-based processes and quality standards to technical-grade requirements. Bcomp has been able to partner effectively with these players, helping bridge the gap.

On the other hand, manufacturers already familiar with composites—those working with glass or carbon fibres—are now looking to adopt natural fibres. Their challenge lies in optimising fibre organisation, where Bcomp has "cracked the code."

Through extensive R&D, the company has tackled significant hurdles such as moisture uptake, UV protection, and durability, which are critical when working with natural fibres that inherently absorb water.

Bcomp has built intellectual property around fibre functionalisation, giving it a significant head start. While competitors are beginning to recognise the market opportunity, no other corporation currently offers the same level of integrated solutions.

Target innovation-driven markets that can lead you to your moonshot industries.

"Finding early adopters was probably the most difficult part," admits Fischer.

Bcomp's strategy first extended from skis into racket sports and water sports. These industries are pro-innovation, with relatively short sales and design cycles and low regulatory barriers.

Advancing into motorsports enabled the organization to demonstrate its tech in the automotive space. :

"Motorsports is a very dynamic industry—teams are eager to build faster, lighter cars and anything that helps decarbonise their applications is of high interest."

Unlike highly regulated industries, motorsports teams often have simple material requirements: "They need lightweight, safety, and easy integration without reinventing the supply chain."

This eventually opened doors to standard car manufacturers.

"We are in the business of building credibility. Initially, you have none, so it's all about proving yourself to demanding industries."

By working with Porsche Motorsports, Bcomp demonstrated its ability to meet extreme performance standards. This credibility later helped them break into the mainstream automotive industry, where material requirements are significantly tougher:

"In motorsports, specs fit on a one-pager. In road cars, materials need to last 10–15 years, and the spec list is much longer."

Leverage early adopters to access bigger markets.

Bcomp's breakthrough came with Polestar, Volvo Cars, and CUPRA, some of the first automotive brands to adopt its natural fibre solutions.

"Having like-minded partners helps a lot. Polestar set sustainability high on their agenda early on, even when the industry was still fairly cynical."

In 2024 the business raised $40M Series C funding round with the backing of CVCs BMW i Ventures, Porsche Ventures, Volvo Cars Tech Fund and Airbus Ventures demonstrating their confidence in Bcomp’s high-performance, flax-based bio-composites.

Bcomp not only develops innovative materials but is able to track their carbon footprint and compare it to existing alternatives,.

When a customer wants to replace an existing component—like a fender or rear wing—with Bcomp's solution, the team conducts a reverse engineering process. "We ask them to share how the part is currently built, then we analyse it and show them how to manufacture it using our material. In the same step, we calculate the CO₂ footprint of both the existing and new solutions."

By comparing traditional carbon fibre composites with Bcomp's natural fibre-based alternatives, the enterprise can provide precise CO₂ savings calculations.

"We are in the substitution business, so we can tell them exactly how much CO₂ they will save by switching to our solution."

Further, offering life cycle assessments (LCA) as part of the material transition process has been a powerful customer acquisition tool.

"Eventually, sustainability data will become a commodity—every enterprise will need a clear understanding of their product's life cycle. But right now, it's not yet standard practice. By being able to do the math for them, we help clients decarbonise their supply chains while proving our credibility."

Be prepared to build the tech to make your tech.

Bcomp generally integrates its materials within existing capacity where possible.

For example, Fischer explains, "In weaving, we make minor modifications to standard equipment to accommodate our raw material inputs. However, we had to create entirely new manufacturing processes for certain processes—such as the two specialised yarns we've developed, which require 3D structuring."

This month, Bcomp invested in a state-of-the-art production facility in Fribourg, Switzerland, as a pilot plant for its thermoplastic PowerRibs™ technology in the large-scale mobility market.

This highly automated new facility enables Bcomp to develop new manufacturing methods, scale effectively and maintain full control and optimisation from start to finish.

As the push for decarbonization intensifies, Bcomp’s approach—agility, leveraging IP, data-driven insights, scalable manufacturing — offers valuable lessons for any organization looking to turn breakthrough materials into market-ready solutions.

When you really think about it, you get tremendous value with an Amazon Prime subscription. Not only do you get fast and free shipping and access to s......

OneThird, a foodtech built to tackle food waste, has raised a €[website] Series A funding round and tappointed Henrike Langbroek as Chief Executive Officer......

Unicorn companies are crucial drivers of innovation, economic growth, and technological progress in Europe. Often, they introduce groundbreaking techn......

Swiss manufacturing automation company SAEKI raises $6.7M

Today Swiss manufacturing automation business SAEKI has raised $[website] million in funding, bringing its funding to over $8 million.

With global supply chains facing mounting pressures and costs continuing to rise, manufacturing is at a critical juncture. Industries like aerospace, automotive, and construction face long lead times and high costs for large-format components, relying heavily on fragmented supply chains and labour-intensive processes.

Unlike traditional manufacturers who rely on manual processes, SAEKI combines large-scale additive manufacturing with precision CNC machining in a unified production system.

This hybrid approach enables the business to deliver precision-engineered components in days rather than weeks. It incorporates automated quality assurance, which ensures every part meets stringent industry standards, enabling faster delivery times and improved cost efficiency for large-format components.

SAEKI also unveiled the launch of its breakthrough instant quoting platform, enabling consumers to upload designs, configure requirements, and receive immediate pricing for precision-engineered parts — this reduces the procurement cycle from days to minutes.

A global automotive manufacturer noted that using SAEKI’s 3D-printed composite tooling shaved 2 weeks off of their production schedule. The sheer speed of delivery, 1 week vs 6 weeks from traditional suppliers, presented a significant opportunity.

"There's an exponential and widening divide between what we can design and actually build," commented Andrea Perissinotto, co-founder and CEO of SAEKI.

"While engineers can now use AI to create hundreds of optimised designs, legacy manufacturing simply can't deliver these components cost-effectively.”.

Automating the entire process, from quoting to final inspection, makes these advanced designs manufacturable at scale.

“This isn't just about making parts; it's about reshaping the way industries approach production. This is a defining moment for European manufacturing as we set out to build a future with fully autonomous factories".

SAEKI's technology-driven approach not only reduces waste and shortens lead times, but also helps reshore critical manufacturing capabilities to Europe. Moreover, by minimising reliance on overseas suppliers, the enterprise aligns with broader industry trends toward sustainability and supply-chain resilience.

Lightbird led the funding with participation from Founderful, 2100VC, Danobat, and multiple high-profile business angels.

“Global supply chains are under pressure, with rising costs and delays becoming the norm. SAEKI’s ability to deliver high-quality components quickly and reliably sets a new standard for the industry.”.

The investment will accelerate SAEKI's development of autonomous factories that integrate quoting, 3D printing, machining, and inspection into a seamless process.

A group of mothers take on the town responsible for poisoning their babies in the trailer for Toxic ...

CIBC Innovation Banking has provided a 60 million DKK financing facility to agentic AI-powered consu...

Froda, a provider of capital to SMEs, has strengthened its partnership with the European Investment ...

Synaps emerges from stealth mode with €1.4M funding for its 'Figma for Architects'

Vienna-based proptech startup Synaps has emerged from two years of stealth mode with €[website] million pre-launch investment.

Operating as the "Figma for Architects," the organization unveiled a collaborative architectural planning tool that integrates all the processes an architect needs into a single platform.

"We've developed a multiplayer editor that works as simply and intuitively as using a pencil."

Synaps contends that industry leader AutoCAD, developed by Autodesk, has hardly driven innovation in the last nearly 40 years.

Due to the lack of contemporary capabilities such as real-time collaboration, intuitive user interface, browser-based access, or an active community, AutoCAD is gradually becoming outdated.

Synaps combines architectural and planning elements and plans to include advanced post-production attributes in the future ([website], layer effects like shadows, lighting, blur, blending modes, and tools like brushes and magic wands). These attributes will enable customers to create impressive architectural plans and presentations with minimal effort.

Notably, CPO Kevin believes it is unlikely that market leader AutoCAD will catch up quickly because it "would need to completely rebuild its product from scratch".

He asserts that over the years, this has made the software "very sluggish, more complex, and harder to learn".

"It feels like it takes months or even years to fully master AutoCAD, while with Synaps, it will only take days. Autodesk also has a functioning business model, so they don't see any urgent need for innovation in this area. If things go as planned, we should soon be more agile and versatile in every field. We will offer both old and completely new attributes, all at a significantly enhanced price-to-performance ratio."

The Synaps entire software architecture is designed for browser, with capabilities continuously added on top, It allows consumers to hold completely remote feedback sessions and location-independently directly within the editor, assigning specific tasks to different stakeholders simultaneously and at the same time.

Even before the first launch, the market itself demonstrated how significant the interest and demand for change in this industry appear to be.

Without any marketing efforts, over 8,000 architects, planners, and others have already registered for the beta version over the past few months. They will gradually gain access, allowing them to explore the future possibilities for their daily work.

Synaps will begin granting phased access to its platform starting today.

The round is raised from a variety of business angels such as former JP Immobilien CEO Martin Müller or success story Silicon-Valley founder Fredrik Björk (CEO of Grafbase), alongside Austria's Research Promotion Agency (FFG).

"After more than 20 years in the real estate industry and with an IT background, I am well aware of the incredible inefficiencies in building planning. Synaps has all the attributes and the right team to put an end to this chaos in daily collaboration among stakeholders. The product has tremendous scaling potential and could eventually succeed globally."

Synaps is currently fully focused on further product development, with key capabilities such as geometric shapes and operations, as well as real-time collaboration (CAD tools), taking centre stage.

By the time the full beta version launches in the second quarter of 2025, additional capabilities like walls, windows, doors, and comprehensive post-production tools will be available, making the product fully functional before the summer.

A completely new AI feature is already being developed, which, , can potentially be a game-changer for the entire architectural design industry.

CIBC Innovation Banking has provided a 60 million DKK financing facility to agentic AI-powered consu...

UK cell-cultivated meat organization Meatly today became the first organization in the world to supply cell-cu...

Table of Contents Table of Contents Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. Pixel 9 Pro XL: specs Samsung Galax...